


Ouroboros

by Loxendiel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Angst, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Depression, Edward is kind of an asshole at first, Harry Potter Has Trust Issues, I messed with the timeline so everything in harry potter happened a year earlier basically, Like ignoring most of the plot of twilight and the other books, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Slow To Update, Torture, Vampires, general mental illness, implied PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-02-06 19:40:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1869954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loxendiel/pseuds/Loxendiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is forced to live with a distant relative in the United States during the aftermath of the war, due to a decision made by the Dursley's. </p><p>He wasn't quite sure what he was expecting, but adapting to life at a muggle high school in a foreign country is more than a little challenging. Of course, the vampires sitting across the cafeteria do little to comfort him in spite of his familiarity with their species. </p><p>While battling his own demons, Harry is forced to work with the family of a particularly nosy vampire in order to defeat a larger threat. </p><p>Sorry for the crappy summary, but I think the story is probably a bit better. Maybe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Of Aurors and Airplanes

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hello all, I'm Kast and this is my first fanfic on this site. It was actually originally going to be written by someone else, but she gave up on it and allowed me to take over. So the first few chapters were written using her notes. From there the ideas will be mine. Um, yeah I guess that's it for me. Oh and it won't follow the Twilight plot line incredibly closely so I'm sorry if that bothers you, but there should be a few parallels. 
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of child abuse and torture, slash
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Twilight. They belong to J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Myers respectively.

Harry nearly choked on the water he had been about to swallow.

"Excuse me?" He gasped, voice cracking from the stifled cough. The auror that was gazing at him from behind a large mahogany desk raised a perfectly sculpted blonde eyebrow. 

"I said," The man drawled as if speaking to a child. "That because your magical guardian Albus Dumbledore is dead and your muggle guardian refuses to allow you back, you'll have to stay with your only other living relatives: your mother's cousin Charlie Swan and his daughter."

"But-" Harry started, but cut himself off to catch his breath and allow the anger that had been simmering in his chest to cool down. When he'd collected himself he continued, " Why can't I stay in the Wizarding World?"

The blonde man's blue eyes crinkled in amusement and Harry felt the almost uncontrollable urge to scream at him. The whole situation was bloody stupid. He'd defeated Voldemort two days prior and despite the promises of being able to rest and grieve, the Ministry forced Arthur Weasley to bring him to the Ministry so they could discuss his 'unique situation.'

As if that was more important than helping his friends rebuild the castle or gather the wounded.

"Because you are a minor, Harry." The auror responded, drawing Harry out of his thoughts and back to the situation on hand. "Since you have living relatives we are obligated to send you there until you either reach age 17. Or all of the rogue Death Eaters are found and sent to Azkaban. Whichever comes first."

"No," Harry argued, shaking his head and clenching the arms of the chair so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "I defeated Voldemort. I can defeat a few death eaters. And you don't even know they'll go after me!"

"That's true, but that's not the problem. You're a minor. You have to stay with your family," The auror stated, a determined note sounding out through his weary demeanor.

"I can stay with the Weasley's," Harry said, desperation seeping into his voice. He knew he was running out of options, but he was tired of people controlling him.

"They're hardly qualified to take care of their own children." The auror said, shushing Harry with a hand gesture before continuing. "They're good parents Harry. I did not mean to imply that they weren't, however the damages to their house will cost more than what they can pay for. You wouldn't want them to worry about caring for you too, would you?"

Harry scowled, a frown on his face as he finally sighed in defeat. He was completely out of options; Dumbledore was dead and the Dursley's decided that now that he was officially a murderer they would not have him in their house. And he couldn't ask the Weasley's for more than they had already given him. He clenched his jaw and tried to calm himself down before responding.

"Fine. When am I leaving?"

"You will be departing for America approximately two weeks from today." The man answered. "However, there are some things I need to tell you before that. Harry nodded his head in acknowledgement, still digging his fingernails into the cracks in the chair's wooden arms."First, you will be attending a muggle high school."

"And how am I supposed to pull that off?" Harry asked, growing increasingly frustrated with the man.

"A few well placed memory charms will help." The man said, and continued before Harry could protest. "You will be put under a muggle-born tutor who will help you learn everything you need to know."

"You want me to make up six years of education in two weeks?" Harry asked incredulously, removing his hands from the chair and placing them on his knees.

"Yes. And you'll be able to do it." The auror assured. Harry didn't respond, but was obviously very doubtful of the assured success. "Second, Charlie Swan and his daughter Bella, who will also be moving in shortly before you do, do not know about magic so you will have to refrain from using it."

"It's not like I'm bloody allowed to anyway," Harry muttered, his temper starting to get the best of him. He was being ripped away from the world that he had bloody saved because the Ministry didn't seem to believe he was capable of taking care of himself.

"I know it's not fair Harry, I was against it. Honestly." The man said, sending Harry a genuinely sympathetic smile. Harry frowned; sympathy was only a step away from pity and that was the last thing he needed from this bloke.

"Fine." Harry said, shaking his head. Stress was starting to build a home in his head and he could feel a headache coming on. "What am I going to do about the muggle books?"

"They will be provided by the tutor. Your first meeting with her is at your house at Grimmauld Place tomorrow morning at 8." Harry nodded his head at the information and was about to stand up, but the auror shook his head.

"What?"

"You're going to need to change your name."

"What?" Harry asked, hoping he'd heard wrong. They'd literally just stolen his world from him, and now they were going to steal his identity too?

"Only while you're in America" The man said, seeming to read Harry's thoughts. Harry glared and dropped his eyes so that the man could no longer make eye contact with him. He'd had enough of Dumbledore pulling that trick on him, he didn't need an auror reading his thoughts too. "Harry Potter is a very common name in America. And I guarantee you, the death eaters are going to check every single one of them. Hadrian is close enough to Harry that you shouldn't get confused, but far enough from Harry that you shouldn't be investigated by the death eaters."

"Harry nodded his head, not thrilled with the news but no longer in the mood to argue.

"Oh, and Harry?" The auror said, grabbing the teenager's attention,"You should start referring to yourself as Hadrian. Any mistakes could be fatal. You never know."

Harry turned his head and left the room, attempting to ignore the ominous warning as he walked down the clean black halls. A moment later he saw Arthur Weasley sitting on one of the benches and almost instantaneously a little bit of the anger that had been boiling inside him calmed.

When Harry saw that he had the man's attention he briefly explained everything he had been told by the auror. The man seemed almost as frustrated as Harry felt, but managed to force a smile.

"Well then, since it seems you will not be seeing much of anybody aside from that new tutor of yours for the next to weeks, perhaps you should explain this to Ron and Hermione now. And Ginny too, of course." Arthur suggested, guiding the teenager to the newest floo and gesturing for the boy to go first.

A sad smile resumed its spot on his face once the boy had disappeared in a burst of green flames. The war had already stolen one of his sons and now it looked like he was going to lose another, if only temporarily. He held back the tears as the thoughts of Fred entered his mind.

Arthur Weasley was gone in a flashing whir of green flames.

Harry arrived with a thud, immediately alerting Ron and Hermione of his arrival. He was on his knees by the time they rushed into the room, but took the hand Ron offered anyway and stood himself up. "What did they want, Harry" Hermione asked, barely giving Harry time to adjust.

The anger that Harry had managed to cool flared up again. An angry huff escaped him, though the noise was drowned out by the sound of Arthur's arrival.

"I'm not 'Harry' anymore, I'm Hadrian." Harry ground out, barely keeping his temper under control.

"He's being sent to America," Arthur supplied, obviously guessing the topic of conversation. Silence filled the room, and Arthur patted Harry once on the back before leaving, mumbling something about alerting Molly to the situation.

Once Arthur was gone Hermione broke the silence with a bitter sort of laugh, that prior to the war would've been completely characteristic of her.

"You're serious?" Hermione asked and though it was a question Harry already knew she knew the answer to, he nodded his head anyway.

"They want me to live with my mother's cousin." Harry said, exiting the kitchen and plopping himself down in one of the chairs in the sitting room.

"This is because of the Dursleys isn't it?" Ron asked. Harry shrugged.

"Well, would you want a murderer living with you?"

"Harry-"

"I know Hermione, I was just kidding." Harry said. Hermione seemed to be under the impression that he thought it was his fault he killed Voldemort. And it was, technically, but either way he couldn't bring himself to feel real remorse over it. "I think they just want me out of the way."

"I'm sure it's to keep you out of danger, Harry, not out of the way." Hermione said, though seeing her friends wry look she slumped. "I suppose you are a distraction."

"Thanks." Harry said flatly.

"No, no. That's not what I meant," Hermione said, in a rush to correct herself. "I just mean that everyone in the wizarding world wants to talk to you. People have been stopping by all day asking for you."

Harry sighed. "It's fine Hermione. I knew what you meant."

"Harry, maybe a break from the wizarding world is what you need." Hermione ventured after a moment of silence. She knew Ron was hurting, she knew because he wasn't talking. She looked at the red head and saw that his head was bowed and a look of anger was plastered onto his pale, freckled face.

"I'm not sure this is a break." Harry said,"and even so, I need to be here."

"You've helped more than enough." Hermione argued. She didn't want Harry gone, but now that she'd had time to let the information sink in she realized that Harry needed a break. Since the end of the Triwizard tournament Harry had been whisked around from professional to professional all training him in the basics of their field so that he had a better chance of defeating Voldemort. Harry never told her or Ron what all happened during that year, the year he should've been with them in their fifth year at Hogwarts, but whatever he was doing instead left a mark on him. When they finally saw him again at the end of that school year he was much stronger physically, but emotionally he was at the same place he was before; angry, confused, afraid. Only now he was better at hiding those emotions through a mask of indifference.

In their sixth year while they were alone together on the Horcrux hunt they managed to break him of some of the aloofness he'd seemed to become accustomed to during his time away from them, but even now he was a much different person than he was two years ago.

"Then why do I feel like I haven't?" Harry asked, though it didn't seem to be a question. The room settled into an uncomfortable silence before Harry shook his head and stood up. "I should go. I probably won't see you guys until I leave for America." Harry forced himself to look less irritated than he felt, but the sardonicism still came out in his voice. "They're sending me to a muggle high school and they seem to think that the right amount of memory spells and a tutor will prepare me for the six years of education I missed."

"That's not possible," Ron said, speaking up for the first time. His ears were still red from anger and his cheeks were splotchy from where he'd been holding them in his hands.

"With memory charms it is," Hermione stated, "But if you put too many on too quickly you can end up canceling them out and then you'd have to start over. It's also not very good for your mind; it can cause serious damage." Hermione lectured and Harry let a small half-smile slip onto his face.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"So, if-I mean when you go to America, how long?" Ron asked, finally broaching the subject neither he nor Hermione had wanted to talk about.

Harry sighed, leaning against the door "I don't know."

Hermione stood and pulled him into a warm hug, only releasing him long enough for Ron to give him and awkward pat on the back before she hugged him again. "Good luck, Harry."

Harry nodded stiffly, before backing away from her. He gave a half-hearted wave before he walked back towards the floo and disappeared, arriving in Grimmauld place with a thump.

Harry entered the airplane nervously. He'd heard Dudley telling stories of them before, but he'd never expected them to be so crowded. In fact, he was starting to feel vaguely claustrophobic despite the fact that no one was sitting next to him.

The flight wasn't very full, but he'd decided to sit in the back of the plane anyway. The farther away he was from people, the better. He was already in a bad mood, and he didn't exactly feel like socializing.

He buckled himself in and waited in silence for a long while before an elderly couple moved to sit in the row across the aisle from him.

He was just deciding that he wasn't overly fond of planes when the vehicle started to move. He felt his heart clench a little, but it soon relaxed and he even found himself enjoying it when the plane took up off the ground. His ears popped a few times, and while it hurt a little, the feeling soon passed and he was able to relax.

The plane ride was interesting for the first half an hour, but by the time the stewardess' went around taking drink orders he found himself recounting the events that had happened earlier that day.

He'd gotten out of tutoring with a massive headache only to be dragged away by Hermione who insisted that he needed muggle clothing that wasn't four sizes too large. She'd also mentioned that most teenagers had cell phones and computers and that he'd need them too.

The only thing he actually wanted was a portable music player. Dudley had had one, and once his older cousin had forgotten about it Harry had been able to use it. He'd discovered quite a few bands that he was fond of, though perhaps the most shocking thing was that his cousin didn't have a terrible taste in music.

Hermione had promised him they would stop to by his portable music player first, and consequently he'd bought his cell phone and computer at the same tech store.

He had less say in the clothing. He ended up with a more sufficient amount of jeans, varying from baggy to skinny and black to light grey. Hermione had muttered something about variety. He'd ended up with a multitude of t-shirts and sweaters as well, as well as other necessary items like underwear, socks, belts, hiking boots and regular sneakers.

Hermione had had to leave after that, but not before convincing him that contacts would look less conspicuous than his glasses. It'd taken him over half an hour to get them in that morning, and he wasn't overly excited about trying to figure out how to take them off. The idea of poking himself in the eye numerous times didn't appeal to him.


	2. Meeting the Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Don't expect the updates to come this quickly all the time, but I felt like everything has been really boring so far and I really just felt like you guys deserved more. Anyway, Bella is going to call Hadrian her brother because there really isn't a better term and so Charlie might refer to him as his son. Because he is, for lack of a better word. I feel like typing 'cousin's kid' every time would be awkward.
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of child abuse and torture, Slash
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.
> 
> Raven1493: I will hopefully be able to update once a week. Maybe more often, as you have seen here. I have a ton of school work though, and as I'm a huge procrastinator, that means that I'm always busy. I'm perpetually behind schedule.

Harry was startled out of his thoughts when a soft hand tapped him on the shoulder.

"Are you sure you don't need anything, sir?" The lady asked. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight bun and her inquiry seemed earnest.

"I'm sure. Thank you." Harry said politely. He saw the stewardess nod her head and walk back down the aisle and into the room hidden behind curtains. The sky was starting to get dark, turning the clouds into a dark grey color. The lights of the cities below him were long gone, though he was sure they were over the ocean by now.

A sigh escaped him as he looked to the two empty seats next to him. In someways he was glad they hadn't been filled, but part of him wished they had. He'd been fine in the beginning, but now that they were seven hours into the flight he was starting to grow restless. He'd managed a nap sometime between the first offer for drinks and the most recent one, but he wasn't sure for how long.

He'd not thought to pack a book or a sketchbook to entertain himself during the flight. The old couple that was sitting across the aisle from him had attempted conversation once or twice, but he'd done a poor job of maintaining it, especially since they seemed most interested in the personal details of his life.

He turned his head back to the window and saw a flash of his reflection before his eyes focused to look beyond the glass. He thought he saw a bird, but quickly dismissed the thought. The plane was much higher than birds could manage.

The thought of birds brought his mind back to Hedwig who was being held by the Weasley's until he got to America. He'd been told he wasn't allowed to send letters to friends or other members of the wizarding community, but the thought of not having Hedwig with him was more than he was willing to deal with.

The Weasleys hadn't specified when they were going to send her, but he knew Hedwig would arrive eventually and that was enough for him.

"Sweetie?" Harry looked up and saw that the elderly lady who had introduced herself as Maggie had moved to the aisle seat.

"Yes?" He shifted so his body was angled towards her, but a feeling of discomfort crept up the back of his spine and settled in his chest.

"You looked lonely, so I decided to see if you wanted someone to talk to." She smiled at him and he felt a flush of embarrassment come to his face. People inviting themselves into his own personal business was something he was used to, but he hadn't expected it from a muggle who had no idea who he was.

"Oh." He mumbled.

"So, where are you headed?" She asked, making herself comfortable. Harry felt the suspicion he had when he first met her flare up inside of him, but answered in spite of himself.

"Forks," He knew it was reckless, but he was still angry at his situation and couldn't bring himself to care.

"Really?" The woman seemed genuinely excited and it was in that moment that Harry regretted telling her. "We live there! Martin and I were born and raised in Forks. A lovely town, really."

"Oh." Harry mumbled, trying to generate enough energy so as not to come off as rude. "Do you like it?"

"Well of course! Why would we've stayed so long if we hadn't?" She asked. Harry had a feeling it was a rhetorical question, so refrained from answering. Especially since he wasn't particularly interested. "It rains a lot, but the people are very kind. Who are you visiting?"

Harry stiffened a bit, but he saw the woman's face and knew she was genuinely curious for nosy, but not malicious reasons.

"The Swans." He said. The lady's eyes once again lit up and he found himself curious, though he tried not to show it.

"Charlie Swan is the Sheriff." She said. "He's got a little girl named Bella, about your age I think." The woman said before continuing in a conspiratorial whisper, "Her parents are divorced. Her mother stole her from Charlie, poor man. Now that the woman doesn't want Bella anymore she sent the poor child back to her father."

Harry wasn't sure how much of that he could believe. The growing similarities between this woman and his aunt were starting to make him uncomfortable.

"Oh." He said, willing the subject to change.

"Is that all you know how to say dear? 'Oh'?" The woman was looking at him imploringly, and Harry felt his irritation rise at her condescending tone.

"Sorry. No." He responded, dodging her gaze by looking at his hands. The scar on the back of his left hand shown brightly in the lighting, but he'd gotten over the urge to cover it. He supposed he would start to have to, though, now that he was out of the wizarding world where everyone knew what Umbridge did to the students.

"What are you visiting for? It's the middle of the school year, you know." Harry had to suppress the urge to snap at the woman. She was starting to treat him as if he was a child.

"Family issues." He responded shortly, feigning politeness. The woman seemed to believe it, though he knew she was going to ask for more details. "Look, i'm sort of tired."

"Oh, I'll let you get to sleep then. Have a good nap!" Harry was relieved at how easy it was to get her to go away, and quickly shifted himself so he was looking out the window again. He watched the clouds go by, and eventually let his eyes fall closed.

Bella followed her father into the crowded baggage claim section of the airport. She ignored the family with the crying child and the old man who was wandering around aimlessly in favor of trying to keep up with her fathers brisk pace.

A few days prior she'd been told that a boy named Hadrian would be living with them for a little while because he was having some kind of family issue, but that was about it. Her father had mentioned that they were related through his cousin Lily Evans, but that didn't change anything for her; he was still a stranger.

When she'd talked to Jacob about it he'd wondered if she was angry at the short notice, but she wasn't. She was surprised, but she wasn't overly concerned about the boy.

She was curious though, as to who he was and what he was like.

She pulled herself out of her thoughts and noticed that she'd lost sight of her father. Feeling a tightening in her chest, that was more from frustration than anxiety, she looked around the room in search of the familiar dark brown hair and flannel shirt of her father.

"Over here!" She turned her head and felt her lips tilt upward in relief when she caught sight of Charlie waving her over. She quickly pushed herself through the crowd, doing her best not to touch anybody, until she reached her father. "He should be here soon."

Bella nodded her head, as she watched a group of people walk in from the gates. She caught sight of a few little kids, a few elderly people and a couple of teenagers. A few british accents could be heard, but most people seemed to be returning home.

"Hadrian?" She whipped her head around at the sound of her father's voice and quickly took notice of the boy who had somehow managed to arrive without her noticing. She quickly took time to analyze the boy; his bright green eyes were his most notable feature, standing out against his pale skin and dark hair. He was dressed in plain jeans and a t-shirt so she couldn't see much of his personality. He left arm had a concerning vertical scar along the wrist and the hand that was wrapped around the handle of his large duffle bag had scars that looked to be words of some sort scratched onto the back of it.

She threw a glance at her father, but the man either didn't notice or was pretending not to.

The boy nodded his head and threw and awkward sort of smile at them. "Yes."

She saw her father shuffle around awkwardly before making a noncommittal hand gesture that showed that they were to follow him.

She walked behind Hadrian and noticed that he was extremely thin and shorter than she was. Despite this, he looked to be in good shape as wiry muscles were visible in his back, arms and legs.

"So Hadrian, how was your flight?" Charlie asked. She saw the boy straighten up, but continue walking nonetheless.

"Tiring," The boy said after a moment, adjusting the bag on his shoulder. His british accent was strong, but it wasn't so strong that it was hard to understand.

"I figured it would be. The time change and all." Bella saw the boy nod in agreement, but the conversation dissolved into an uncomfortable silence after that.

Harry eyed the squad car hesitantly. He remembered the lady on the plane telling him that Charlie Swan was the sheriff, but he hadn't anticipated that the man would drive around in it off duty. He also wasn't fond of being seen in the back seat of a police car; drawing attention to himself was the last thing he needed.

"You can just put that in the back." Charlie said, clicking open the turn of the car. Harry nodded in acknowledgement and removed his duffle bag and backpack from his shoulders before placing them in the trunk. "Is that all?"

"Yes," He responded, stepping back as the man closed the trunk.

"Both of you can sit in the back." Charlie said, moving to the driver's door and stepping inside. The girl moved to get in the car on the opposite side, leaving him to awkwardly clamber into the backseat behind his temporary guardian.


	3. Moving In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello guys! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and watched, it really means a lot to me. Leave a review with a question and I'll do my best to answer without giving anything away. I always respond to questions so don't be afraid to ask; you won't be wasting your time. So, with out further adieu, here's the next Chapter. Actually I lied.
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of child abuse and torture, Slash  
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
> 
> So, basically I suck at beginnings. Anyway if you give me suggestions and constructive criticism I will go back and edit things. Please, please tell me if there is something I messed up or if you think something should have happened differently or if I am moving too quickly.

Harry welcomed the silence that the car ride offered. He had already gathered that neither of his companions were talkative people, and he was happy with that.

However, it did leave a lot of time for observation, so after he grew tired of watching the endless green of trees flash by his window he turned his attention to the girl sitting next to him.

She was pretty in a plain sort of way. She had long, brunette hair and eyes of the same color. Her pale skin was nearly translucent, but was clear of any blemishes. Her lips were a soft, natural pink and Harry didn't think she was wearing makeup. It was a nice change from the muggle girl's he was used to back in Surrey, whose faces were so plastered with makeup that it was impossible to take them seriously.

He shook his head and turned his attention to the burly frame of his new official guardian. He could only see the back of the man's head, but he already knew that his hair was darker than Bella's and his skin was more tan. Though he couldn't see it, he knew a mustache rested on the man's upper lip. The hair was neatly trimmed and much more flattering than his uncle's had been, though his uncle's set a pretty low standard. The man had the same dark brown eyes as his daughter, though his shown with warmness, while his daughter's eyes were nearly unreadable.

So Hadrian, what do you want to be when you're older?" Charlie asked. Harry was caught off guard by the question that came out of seemingly nowhere, but he tried to think of an answer.

"I used to want to join the army, but now I rather like the idea of being a doctor." He said. It was true, though the army was his equivalent of an auror and a doctor was his equivalent of a healer. He and Ron had wanted to become aurora together when they were younger, but after the war neither of them wanted to fight anymore. He knew Ron was interested in professional Quidditch, but he wasn't sure if his friend was actually going to go for it. He shook his head and tried to focus on Charlie's response.

"Hm." Charlie hummed. Harry was glad that they seemed to be settling back into silence, though the awkwardness had reached an all time high.

"Harry settled back into his seat and turned his head to look out of the window once again. The view was still the same; a two lane road with green whirring by on either side. Occasionally another car would pass by, but they were far and few between. He let himself close his eyes for a moment in a prolonged blink before opening them again and finding that he truly, honestly did not want to be here.

When they arrived at the Swan's house, Bella got out of the car almost immediately, with Charlie following closely after. Harry pushed his door open and stepped out, immediately feeling the moisture in the air sticking against his skin. It was an uncomfortable feeling, and when he breathed the air felt almost heavy.

He gave a small half-smile to Charlie who had already taken the liberty of grabbing his bags for him, and closed the door with just enough force to make sure it closed. He took his backpack from Charlie, but when he moved to take the duffle bag the man assured him that it was okay. Harry nodded his head as he followed the man to the door.

The house itself was nice, much nicer than the ones on Privet Drive, though he knew some of the appeal he felt towards this house was because it was unique; there wasn't another house like it on the block.

He sighed as he made his way to the house, expertly dodging a patch of ice. He stepped inside with a bit of hesitance, though he found that the house was welcoming with its light blue walls and chestnut colored wood work. It had a homey feel to it that he never experienced anywhere but the Weasleys. He bit his lip as he made his way into the house, finding himself in the kitchen.

"I'll show you your room in a moment," Charlie said, setting Harry's bag on the table softly. Harry nodded, as he tried to look at the kitchen without looking away from the man who was speaking. The kitchen was the same color as the rest of the house, with a white tiled floor that had seen better days, and a few cramped pantries. It was lived in, he could tell. "But there are a few rules."

"Mm," Harry hummed showing that he was listening. He could tell that the older man was uncomfortable with this entire situation, though he doubted the man felt like anxiety was going to bubble up from his stomach and out his throat. The tightness in his chest was nearly unbearable, but he did his best to remain calm. He didn't need to make things even more uncomfortable.

"No drinking, drugs, or smoking...and be back by ten every night." Charlie said, eyeing the boy. Harry shuffled awkwardly as he could feel himself being scrutinized. He knew he looked like a trouble-maker, what with his shaggy hair and overall disheveled appearance, but he hoped the man would hold off on making assumptions.

"You don't have to worry about that." He murmured, shifting his backpack on his shoulder and shuffling his feet nervously. He saw the man give him a look and tried to give a reassuring smile in return, but that only seemed to make the older man more uncomfortable.

"Right, well, follow me." Charlie led the teenager into the living room and showed him where the bathroom was before leading the boy upstairs and towards a door at the end of the hallway.

"All right, Hadrian, this is your room." Charlie said, gesturing to what must have been the guest room. Harry stepped inside, nodding his head in thanks as he looked the room over. It was rather plain with a queen sized bed in one corner, adorned with dark blue comforters and grey sheets, and an oak desk in the other. The walls were an off-white and the furniture was a dark oak color, as was the door to the closet.

"Thank you." Hadrian said sincerely. He'd never had a room of his own before and while this would only be for a little while he was happy with it.

"It's no problem." Charlie said with a controlled smile on his face. "You go ahead and unpack. Bella is downstairs making lunch. Come down when you're done."

Harry nodded and set to work unpacking his stuff, though he was soon distracted when he got to the box he'd stuffed into his backpack moments before the flight. He had bought a new wand a few days before he was to depart; his holly wand had been destroyed in the war and it was unsalvageable. He was rather fond of his new wand as well, though Ollivander seemed to think this wand was 'curious' as well. He'd said he was shocked when the Blackthorn had bonded with the unicorn tail hair since the wood was considered extremely dark, while the unicorn was the purest of the possible cores. He supposed it was odd, but when was anything that happened to him normal?

He ran his hand along the wand one last time before lifting it and casting a few powerful Silencing Charms. He still had nightmares even though Voldemort was gone and while he was willing to divulge some information to his new guardian he wasn't about to let him know about the nightmares.

Once the charms were up, he set to work on unpacking his clothing and placing it into the closet. Despite popular belief he was a very neat person and made sure everything was in its place before he moved to the electronics.

He didn't bother setting any of them up, but he did plug them in where outlets were available and found spaces for them on his desk. Once he was sure he'd gotten all of the instruction booklets put somewhere he would remember, he turned to his back pack and pulled out his sketchbook, putting it on the bedside table and deciding that he would find a better home for it later.

Sketching was something he rarely indulged in when he was in school, but during the summer months when he had nothing to do but fulfill the Dursley's every whim, he would draw as a way to entertain himself.

Scrunching his nose, he cleared himself of his thoughts before leaving his room and hesitantly making his way downstairs to the kitchen.

Harry entered the kitchen to see Bella fretting over 'grilled cheese'. He wasn't exactly sure why American's called it that; there was no grill involved. He shook his head and stood awkwardly at the entrance of the kitchen until Charlie noticed and beckoned him over. "Take a seat."

"Thanks." Harry murmured, pulling out a chair and seating himself at the table.

"Bella, do you want to invite Jake over to meet Hadrian?"Charlie asked. Harry looked up, not quite sure he like the idea of that, but when he caught sight of Bella's red cheeks he understood what Charlie was trying to do. He watched Bella's eyes shift around for a moment before nodding her head and stepping out of the room.

Harry, without really thinking about it moved to the sandwiches and flipped them before they could be could see the cheese oozing out of them and flopped them onto the waiting plates.

"You cook?" Charlie asked gruffly, coming up to inspect the food. Harry felt his face what up at the realization of what he'd done; it was an almost automatic response. When the Dursley's cooked they would constantly leave and expect him to pick up where they'd left off.

"Sorry," Harry said, stepping away from the food.

"No need. You didn't do anything." Charlie murmured. He knew Hadrian must've come from a bad home given the suddenness with which the kid had been thrust on him, but he wasn't sure how bad the situation was. The man he'd talked to hadn't been very forthcoming with the details.

He saw the kid nod his head, but before the boy could say anything else Bella re-entered the room.

"Jake will be here in half an hour." Bella announced.

"Jake and his father are family friends." Charlie elaborated, seeing the slight change of expression on the emerald eyed boys face. The boy nodded, but refrained from saying anything else.

"I didn- I left the sandwiches." Bella groaned, rolling her eyes and clenching her jaw in frustration.

"Hadrian got to them in time." Charlie said, catching the slight tensing of the boy's shoulders.

"Oh," Bella said, looking around and realizing that the sandwiches were already placed on plates. She turned off the stove, and turned around with a sheepish look adorning her features. "Sorry," She said, looking at Hadrian, who only moved his shoulders in a way that could've been a shrug.

"Let's eat, then" Charlie said, breaking the silence and handing the kids a plate each. Bella immediately went over to the table, but Hadrian waited for a moment looking unsure. "Go ahead," He said, gesturing for the boy to sit down with his daughter. He grabbed his own sandwich and followed the boy over.

He tried to bring himself to start a conversation multiple times, but he found that it was more awkward than what it was worth. He would receive short answers, and Bella wasn't really helping either.

A short while later the door bell rang, and Bella almost jumped out of her seat in her haste to answer it. Harry thought only part of that was due to excitement to see whoever it was, and the other part was eagerness to get away from the horrible silence that had settled around their table.

He heard voices approaching and soon caught sight of a boy much taller than himself. The boy was very tan, with black hair and brown eyes. His hair was long and straight. He resembled the images of American Indians that Harry had seen on the western films that Dudley liked to watch.

"Um, this is Hadrian," Bella said, gesturing to him with a noncommittal hand gesture. He gave a half-smile to the boy who met his gaze with a snarl. Harry furrowed his brows slightly in confusion before deciding that maybe he was expecting him to say something.

"Hello," He said awkwardly. It paid off though, because the other boy immediately relaxed. Bella didn't seem to notice as she went on to introduce the boy as Jacob Black. Harry nodded his head, smiling politely, but wanting nothing more than to leave.

"I've had a long day," Harry said, drawing the attention of everybody. "I think I'm going to go to the room?"

"Yes, go ahead." Charlie said. Harry was both unnerved and glad to see that the man seemed to understand this was more of an escape tactic than honest exhaustion. He could feel the anxiety start to calm down as he made his way out of the room and back towards the room that had been given to him. He didn't bother changing out of his clothes as he flopped onto the bed and allowed his eyes to fall closed.

"What is he to you?" Jacob asked, after a few strained moments of silence. After the other boy had left he and Bella had moved to sit outside on the steps to avoid the watchful gaze of her father.

"I don't know," Bella responded, frustration evident in her eyes. "He's my dad's cousin's son, technically." She snorted.

"That close, huh?" Jacob teased. He saw a smile rise to Bella's face and felt a grin reach his own.

"He's from England. I never knew he existed until a few days ago." She explained. "He was having family issues or something."

"That seems to be a trend." Jacob said, though in a more somber tone. Bella had come to Forks because of family issues, and within two weeks another Swan relative had come for the same general reason.

"He's quiet, but he seems okay." Bella murmured. Jacob had to agree. When he'd first seen the boy an unfamiliar sent had been the most prominent thing in the room. He'd been nervous, but it wasn't until it was revealed that Hadrian was a foreigner that he calmed down. He was sure the reason the boy smelled different was because he wasn't from America.

Or that's what he told himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a shitty chapter. I wasn't feeling well, but I promised myself I would update. I'll probably update every Monday from now on, although I may update sooner depending on how motivated I am.
> 
> Also I'm sure my author's note at the beginning killed you. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew what was going on.
> 
> Review if you want to. I like input on what I could do to improve the chapters since I don't have a beta yet. And I really appreciate constructive criticism and advice on how I could fix things. I'm actually a pretty terrible writer sometimes so just tell me if I'm getting ahead of myself, if I spelled something wrong, if something didn't make sense, etc.
> 
> If any of you want to be my beta reader PM me and I'd be glad to talk to you about it.
> 
> -Kastor


	4. Breakfast and Vampires

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER 4:
> 
> A/N: Hello everyone! Chapter four. I had to do some serious editing on this one because writing from certain people's POV was extremely difficult, *cough*Edward*cough*. I hope you all are enjoying it so far. I really appreciate the feedback I get each chapter and for those of you that reviewed I hope you can see the changes I made based on your suggestions. I'm still beta-less but I am searching. Hopefully I'll have one soon.

Edward watched his family interact with little interest. Rosalie and Emmett were discussing one thing or another, and Carlisle and Esme were exchanging stories of what all had occurred that day. Jasper was staring intently at Alice who looked lost in thought, which was the only marginally interesting thing that was occurring because whenever Alice was lost in thought it always came with the possibility of a vision.

Granted, most visions were of little to none importance, but it was interesting nonetheless.

He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck before lounging further into the couch. He was unsure as to why Carlisle and Esme insisted on family time, but while he was acting as their son he decided he may as well abide by their rules.

A sudden gasp of breath drew his attention back to Alice who was looking pointedly at him. "There's a wizard in town."

"What?" Esme asked, startled. She knew of wizards and had come into contact with them more than once. She shared a look with Carlisle who grasped her hand in his and rubbed circles into her palm with his thumb. It did nothing to calm her.

"He moved in with the Swan's." Alice said, scrunching her nose as she tried to remember the details. She remembered shaggy black hair covering a peculiar scar and the pale blue of the Swan's home.

The room settled into silence for a moment, each of the younger vampires immediately picking up on the discomfort of Esme and even Carlisle to some extent.

"What else do you know, Alice?" Carlisle asked after a moment, a forced calmness in his voice as he looked at the girl.

"He looks to be our age, but there's nothing else." Alice murmured, silently apologizing for not being more helpful. She'd not been shown enough to give anymore details.

"You don't know how long he is staying?" Carlisle asked. The shortest of the family shook her head in the negative. "Then we'll need to monitor him. It is unlikely that he is aware of what we are, but if he finds out there is no saying what sort of damage he could inflict."

There were no protests; the sound of Carlisle's voice was serious and uncharacteristically tense.

Edward clenched his fists and wondered why the elder vampires were so wary of magic users. Wary enough that whenever a new member was introduced to their family, Carlisle and Esme would make sure to tell them about the powers and prejudices of wizards and the damage they could cause. He remembered his own introduction to wizards, and the slight fear that struck in the other vampires' eyes as they spoke of curses and hexes.

Whatever the connection between wizards and the eldest of their family was, it wasn't a pleasant one.

Harry jolted awake to a quick knocking on his door. He tensed up and pulled himself out from under the covers, quickly untangling himself from the sheets before standing. He calmed his breathing and waited in silence for another sound to be heard.

"Hadrian?" He immediately calmed down at the familiar sound of Charlie Swan's gruff voice. "I know the time change is terrible, but you need to get up."

Harry heard the man shuffle away and couldn't help the unintelligible grumble that escaped his lips as he forced himself to walk over to the closet and pull out an outfit. He didn't pay attention to it as he made his way to the bathroom where he found the glass still coated over with steam from where either Bella or Charlie had just finished.

"You can go in." Bella said as she walked past him. He nodded in thanks before shuffling into the humid room and closing the door. His tooth brush was already in the bathroom, as were his contact lenses, but he knew to wait until after his shower to deal with that. He placed his clothes on the covered toilet seat before turning the water on. He quickly undressed and stepped inside. He made quick work of cleaning his hair and body before stepping out and drying off with one of the spare towels from under the sink.

Once he was suitably dry he threw on a pair of boxers and the dark grey jeans he had grabbed, noticing that they were more form-fitting than he had anticipated. He shrugged it off and put on the greenish blue t-shirt, scowling when the dampness of his skin created friction with the fabric. He fluffed the shirt to get rid of the feeling before turning to the sink and brushing his teeth.

He grabbed the contact container warily, but after ten minutes he finally managed to get them in, though his eyes wouldn't stop watering. He looked at his swollen, puffy eyes in the mirror and scowled. The last thing he needed was people to think he'd been crying.

He picked up his pajamas from the floor and opened the door, letting a wave of steam out as he did so. He walked back to his room and dropped the used clothes into a hamper before turning to his desk and using a comb to try and tame his hair. He gave up after a few minutes.

Not wanting to be late he quickly double checked his bag to make sure he had all of his books before heading downstairs and entering the kitchen. Charlie, he observed was already gone, but Bella was sitting at the table eating an apple.

He sent a half smile at her, but the awkwardness in the room was nearly tangible. He shuffled over to the table and sat down. There was silence for a few moments until Bella stood up and left.

"Apple?" She asked, drawing Harry's attention to where she was standing by a fruit bowl. He nodded his head lamely, and she walked over and handed him the fruit. "Dad had work. Some kind of animal attack."

"Oh," he murmured, not knowing what else to say. Silence reigned once again, before he forced himself to speak. "So is there a bus or...?"

"I'll drive." She responded. "Come on." Harry got up and grabbed his bag. He followed Bella out to an old style red truck that had its own sort of niceness to it, before following the girl's lead and got into the passenger seat. There was silence as she pulled out of the driveway and the tension was driving Harry crazy but he couldn't, for the life of him, bring himself to speak.

When they arrived at the school Harry took less time actually observing the building and more time observing the people who had turned to stare at them. The staring seemed to intensify as they stepped out of the car, but he knew it was a small town. And he was used to being stared at and studiously ignored the attention he was being given.

He followed Bella across the parking lot, but paused when she stopped and pointed. "The front office is right there." Harry looked to see a big greenish building that looked more like a prison than an admission's building, but he ignored the thought as he nodded his head.

"Thanks," He murmured. He was about to ask another question, but Bella was already being flagged down by a group of kids standing by the entrance to one of the other buildings. She waved goodbye and turned away.

"Thanks." Hadrian called after her as he himself turned away and started walking towards the indicated building. It was drizzling, but he didn't mind the rain. He did, however, find that he was moldy irritated by the absurdly intense stares from a group of kids standing near very conspicuous high-quality cars.

The really muscular one looked to be more concerned with a blonde girl who was eyeing him with a strange mix of both disinterest and contempt.

There was a short pixie-looking girl, who looked a little too happy to see him, and the blonde guy next to her looked akin to Snape when the man had a class of first year Gryffindors. The last person in the group was a bronze-haired boy who fairly unreadable, except for a slight show of a frown on his lips.

He shook his head and made a point go ignoring them as he walked into the building where he was met by a nice plump woman who quickly looked him up in the records and gave him his schedule. He was also given the pieces of paper he was supposed to have signed and a map of sorts to help him find the correct buildings.

When he walked out of the office he stopped to take a look at his classes. He was pretty happy with them; Advanced Pre-Calc, AP Chemistry, Studio Art, AP Creative Writing, Latin 4 and US History.

He was not happy that he had math in the morning though. It also didn't help that he was already running late and had no idea where the building he was supposed to be in was.

He felt slightly nervous at the idea of approaching someone for help, but eventually pulled himself together and tapped the shoulder of a friendly looking boy with light brown hair.

"Would you mind telling me where room 233 is?" He asked, looking down at his schedule again to double check. "In building C?"

"Sure, buddy. You must be new here." Harry nodded his head. "Are you a friend of Bella's? I saw you get out of her car this morning."

"I'm Har-Hadrian." Harry stated, trying to feign indifference despite his mistake.

"Anyway, we've been getting a lot of new students. It's really weird. Normally we don't get any, but we've gotten two in the last two and a half weeks!" Mike gushed.

"Right, so um, where is it?" Harry said, trying to get the kid back on track.

"Oh, right. Right. It's over there, behind that building and on the left hand side."

"Thanks." Harry nodded, before taking his leave. He walked the rest of the way to class without talking to anyone and was thrilled that when he got to the classroom no one other than the teacher was there. He quickly handed over his form to be signed and other than introducing himself he didn't have to talk any further with the man.

The desks were organized in three vertical rows and five horizontal. Harry quickly made his way to the very back so he could have the seat farthest away from the window and closest to the exit. He settled in and took out his textbook and notepad, a pencil already in the spiral ring.

The class started filling up a few minutes later, and a few minutes after that someone sat down in the desk next to him. He looked over and saw that it was one of the kids that had been staring at him earlier. He frowned, not bothering to hide it from the bronze haired boy who was watching him with something akin to suspicion in his eyes.

Harry looked away, when he remembered a lesson from Defense Against the Dark Arts. The topaz eyes were a dead give away. They could pass for human if you didn't know what you were looking for; if you were unaware of the existence of vampires, but Harry knew.

"Alright class, we have a new student today. Hadrian Potter?" The teacher looked at him, and Harry waved hesitantly. He was self conscious of the scar littering his arm. Most were from the war, some were from the Dursely's and the most noticeable of them was from Umbridge. Luckily that was on the back of his hand so no one had a clear view of it, but he could see the looks in people's eyes as they started making assumptions as to how he had acquired them."Would you like to tell us something about yourself?"

He wanted to respond with a 'not really', but he knew that if he did that he would just draw more attention to himself so he answered. "I'm from Surrey"

It was short and not very useful, but he wasn't about to give strangers his life story. He heard a snort from the vampire next to him and scowled. It was then that he felt the barely there nudging on his occlumency shields, but he decided to let it go. He didn't like the creature in his mind, but he knew his occlumency skills had gotten strong enough to hold off Voldemort and he wasn't ready to reveal himself as a wizard yet, though he had a sneaking suspicion that the vampire already knew.

A few moments later the prodding stopped and a hand was extended towards him. He stared at it for a second before taking it and shaking lightly.

"Hello Hadrian. My name is Edward."

"Hadrian," Harry said evenly. He felt the coolness of the vampire's skin on his own and was surprised that it wasn't so different from a human hand shake. His fingers weren't being squeezed very hard, and there was nothing threatening about it. His eyes narrowed.

A second later his hand was released, and the vampire had an amused, crooked smile on his face. Harry retracted his hand and put it back on his desk before finally taking a moment to actually look at the creature. He saw that the vampire was tall and had a slim, albeit muscular build that was probably more made for speed than strength. He had bronze hair and topaz eyes, and a straight nose. But despite all that, he had a decidedly crooked smile that ruined his would-be statuesque appearance.

"Mr. Cullen, Mr. Potter, don't make me separate you two." The teacher snapped, before turning his attention back to the board. Harry ignored the looks he received from the other students and turned his attention back to the notes he hadn't been taking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Isn't the longest Chapter, but Harry's at school now. Things are still sort of awkward for him around Bella.
> 
> As usual, if you see any mistake, PM me or leave a review and I will fix it.
> 
> I really hope you all enjoyed it. Originally I was going to update on Monday, but Monday's suck, so I'll probably keep updating on Sunday from now on.
> 
> -Kastor


	5. Snow Days and Icebreakers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello guys! Kastor here! Wow I'm using a lot of exclamation points. I guess I'm just in a good mood. Sorry for the late update. My parents dragged me to the middle of nowhere, USA. And by that I mean the mountains. In a cabin. In like 6 feet of white bullshit. And by white bullshit I mean snow. I really don't like it. It makes me look even paler and I hate getting wet. smh.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or Harry Potter.
> 
> Warnings: Same as usual. Slash, mentions of torture, child abuse.

Harry nearly jumped out of his seat when a voice suddenly sounded from the speaker in the corner of his US History classroom. He ignored the snicker behind him as he was already well aware of the fact that it was the blonde female vampire. She'd been scoffing at him throughout the entirety of the class and her sister wasn't much better. The pixie-looking vampire had tried to start a conversation with him multiple times, which always ended up with him getting hollered at by the teacher. Bella being in the same class as him was the only thing that gave him any sort of comfort and they weren't even friends.

He scrunched his nose as he listened to the staticky sound coming from the machine. "Attention Students!" The voice boomed again, repeating itself. "Because of the worsening conditions outside and the estimated eight inches of snow before the end of the school day we have decided that it is in the best interest of the students to return home. Buses will be running for those of you that need them."

There was a muffling noise as the speaker was turned off and the classroom erupted into chatter once again. Harry felt a little sorry for the teacher who was being, ironically, studiously ignored by the students flowing out of the classroom.

Eventually, he got up himself and followed Bella out of the room and towards where he assumed the exit was.

He knew someone was watching him almost as soon as he left the classroom, but the further he got down the hallway, the more uncomfortable he grew. The hairs on his neck started to rise and he felt a shiver shoot down his spine. By the time he reached the end of the hallway, he couldn't take the curiosity any longer and abruptly turned around only to catch the steady gaze of Edward Cullen.

Harry felt his eyes narrow and his brows furrow before turning back on his heal and walking out of the building.

He didn't know why he was irritated with the creature, but maybe the vampire staring at the side of his head throughout the entirety of Pre-Calc had something to do with it. He really wanted to tell the vampire off, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself. Besides, at least he got a slight reprieve from Edward during history class.

He didn't get a reprieve from vampires though, because he'd had two in his history class.

The sisters weren't really any different from Edward in the long run, but where Edward looked like he wanted to figure 'Hadrian' out like some kind of puzzle that would explode if you put one piece in the wrong way, the smaller sister was more normal in her actions.

However, the blonde vampire also confused Harry. When he first sat down he felt more than saw her give him a once over. From then on whenever he looked at her she would either sneer at him or ignore him. But one time he caught her staring at him with something like earnest curiosity in her eyes.

"-drian. Hadrian, the car." Bella called, turning back to look at the boy. Harry snapped to attention and quickly crossed the parking lot to where Bella was waiting for him by the car.

He clumsily opened the car door and clambered inside.

"Sorry." He mumbled, running a hand through his hair sheepishly.

"It's fine." Bella said, before starting the car and pulling out of the parking space and then out of the parking lot towards her house. His house now too, he supposed. The thought was still a little weird to him.

"How was your first day?" Bella asked. Harry thought the awkwardness in her voice was pretty damned close to tangible, but he let it go.

"Fine. I guess. I mean it was only two periods." He cut himself off before he could start blabbering, but regretted it when Bella offered up no other topic of conversation. Convincing himself that he needed to become friends with Bella if he was going to live here, he forced himself to ask another question. "What's with the Cullen's?"

"Oh, them." Bella said, seeming a little surprised by the question, but mostly indifferent."They stick to themselves. Miss school when it's sunny to go camping, or something."

"Oh." Harry said disappointedly. He had figured all of that out already, which wasn't hard once he found out they were vampires. He wanted to know more about them though, since they seemed to have taken an interest in him, and call him paranoid, but he didn't want to be at a disadvantage if they decided they wanted him gone.

"They also never eat lunch." Bella said as an after thought. "They get food and then throw it away." The car sunk into silence once again, and Harry was surprised when Bella spoke up. "They were all adopted by Dr. Carlisle and his wife. Only the two blonde's are related." Harry nodded his head, letting the information sink in. "Why did you want to know?"

Harry looked up and smiled a little. It felt sort of nice that he wasn't the only one pulling the conversation. He knew Bella was uncomfortable, he could almost feel it, but he was glad that she was trying.

"I had my first two classes with one or more of them." He answered, pulling his bag closer to his chest.

Bella hummed, satisfied with the answer. He knew she thought there was more to it, but was glad she didn't ask. He didn't know how to tell her why he was really interested without revealing that they were vampires or that he was a wizard.

He sighed and turned his head to look out the window at the deep green forest surrounding Forks.

"Hadrian seems like a nice guy." Alice said as soon as she walked in the door. She knew Carlisle wouldn't be home, but she was sure that her siblings and Esme would hear her.

"Tell me about it." Rosalie snorted sarcastically. Alice glared at the blonde, but it held no force. She was used to Rosalie's brusqueness.

"You know you kind of liked him." She teased, earning an eye roll from Rosalie as the blonde sat down on the couch. Alice watched as the routine started and Emmett moved to sit next to Rosalie, while Jasper came over to her and Esme and Edward sat on the other couch.

"Alright so tell me about him." Esme said once she had adjusted herself.

"I had a class with him. I can't read him. He's got walls in his mind." Edward said. "They're not like anything I've seen before."

"He's a wizard." Esme said. "I am not surprised that he is different from other humans."

"Rosalie and I had history with him. He seems like a good student and he has a nice personality." Alice gushed. Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"He wasn't that great." The blonde muttered. "He can't weigh more than 115 pounds, and he's short."

"He's pretty, though." Alice argued, looking at her sister with a playful gleam in her eyes. "He's got bright green eyes and black hair and he's really very pale."

Esme listened in amusement as her adoptive children, namely Alice talked about the wizard.

"And he's scarred" Rosalie said. This earned her confused looks from everyone.

"You didn't see? He had words carved into his hand"

"Did he?" Esme asked worriedly. Abuse, then? She felt Edward stiffen up beside her and she knew he must've read her mind. "If it is from abuse, it would explain his small size." She added, deciding that she may as well put the theory out in the open.

"Maybe. Or maybe he's just tiny." Rosalie stated, leaning back further into Emmett.

"He knows we're vampires." Edward murmured. The rest of his family stared at him incredulously.

"When were you planning to drop that bombshell?" Emmett snorted. He received a flat look from Rosalie.

"It's not that important. I doubt he plans on telling anyone."

"What makes you think that?" Jasper asked.

"Who'd believe him?" Edward retorted, a serious look in his eyes.

"Either way, continue to keep and eye out on him." Esme said, as she stood up and headed to her room to leave her children to their bickering.

When Harry and Bella pulled into her driveway there was already a good three inches of snow on the ground, and it was still falling thickly. Bella pulled the keys of the ignition and grabbed her bag. Harry followed her lead, but as lic would have it, he landed on a patch of black ice and fell with a crunch to the ground. He heard Bella try to make her way around the car without suffering the same fate, but he waved her off. "I'm fine."

She didn't seem so sure, but let him get up on his own. He checked himself over and found that he was no worse for wear, though he now had a nasty looking scrape on the heel of his right hand. He knew that wouldn't be pleasant, but he shook those thoughts away as he focused on navigating through the snow and towards the entrance to the house.

"Clumsy, hm. I can add that to my list of things I actually know about you." Bella murmured, as she led him inside and into the kitchen. She went to the bathroom and a few moments late she returned with a first aid kit. She handed it to him and he took it with a smile.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Harry asked, knowing that this is where he may have to lie. He did need friend's though, and he knew he wouldn't make any by being antisocial. As he waited for Bella to answer he set about opening the kit and pulling out an alcohol swab and a bandaid. He winced when he applied the alcohol swab and received a sympathetic look from Bella who was leaning on the counter. He placed the bandaid on the wound before looking around for a trashcan.

"Under here." Bella said, pulling out a drawer from under the sink. Harry got up and tossed the trash inside, before leaning on the opposite side of the counter.

"So?" He asked, wandering if she'd forgotten about her question.

"Favorite color?" Harry raised an eyebrow, but she just shrugged. "I'm not an overly nosy person, you know. I wouldn't want someone I've known for two days to be asking personal stuff that soon. So, favorite color?"

"Red." Harry said, a small smile gracing his features at Bella's words. "What about you?"

"I like green." She said, staring him in the eye.

"Favourite animal?" He asked, trying to keep the conversation going. He knew the conversation was forced, but he knew he'd need someone to talk to while he was here. Especially since he was forbidden from contacting anyone from the wizarding world.

"Swans." She said evenly, but the bemused look in her eyes as Harry eyed her flatly told him that she was joking.

"I'm sure." He scoffed, feeling a smirk trying to force it's way onto his lips.

As Harry lay in bed that night he thought about the conversation he'd had with Bella a few hours ago. It had started out awkward and ended the same way, but it was progress. Charlie had arrived home at around seven and they'd eaten a silent dinner, though Bella had asked about the animal attack. Charlie had been unwilling to tell them anything, and while Harry wasn't overly concerned it certainly seemed to pique Bella's interest.

After dinner Bella had gone outside to talk to Jacob on the phone and Charlie had gone to bed. Harry had been left to his own devices, but he still felt awkward in the house and quickly retreated back to his own room where he'd completed the homework he'd been given. After that he'd finally set up all of his electronics, though he'd have to ask Bella or Charlie for the wifi password.

The tutor he'd been with taught him a few things about computers, but he still knew next to nothing, which made setting the thing up very difficult.

After he'd finished with the electronics he changed himself back into sleep clothes and gracelessly fell back onto the bed, which led him to where he was now.

He was starting to feel anxious and knew that if he was going to get to sleep he'd need to make a list of things he needed to do. He was about to pull out a piece of paper before deciding that a mental list would be fine.

He knew he needed to become friends with Bella and get closer to Charlie. He also knew that he'd have to resolve whatever was happening with the vampires, though he wasn't quite sure what that was. And lastly, he'd need to find a way to practice his magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As usual, please tell me if I messed anything up. No flames please, but constructive criticism is appreciated. All reviews are appreciated.


	6. Lost in Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! I'm back...not that I was ever gone, I guess. I don't have much to say so I'll just get on with it:
> 
> Warnings: The usual: Slash, mentions of child abuse and torture.
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight or Harry Potter.

"Carlisle," Esme spoke without looking up as her mate entered their bedroom.

"Esme." He greeted, moving to sit next to her on the plush velvet couch in the corner of the room. It looked out into the forest, though the colors were currently dulled by the heavy downpour of rain.

"The children met the wizard today." Esme said, turning her eyes away from the storm and toward's the blue ones belonging to her husband.

"Oh?"

"They seem to think he is not a significant threat," Esme paused and sighed before continuing. "But he knows what we are." There was a moment of silence before Carlisle moved to speak.

"That could be problematic, yes." Carlisle agreed. "But the children have agreed to watch him, correct?"

"Of course, but Carlisle whether he's a threat or not, he's dangerous. You remember what they did to us."

Images of blood and venom flowing down the walls of the shelter mixed with vivid flashes of green flew into Carlisle's mind.

"Yes, I remember. But Esme, just as not all vampire's prey on humans, not all wizards are so...cruel." Carlisle tried to reason. He knew as well as Esme that it was more to convince himself rather than her.

She didn't comment though, and for a moment they both just remembered that night in the middle of the summer just after Esme was turned.

"They killed-slaughtered-all of them." Esme said after a few minutes. Carlisle wrapped his arm around his mate's shoulder in a comforting squeeze.

"Hadrian is young. He's not like them. Not yet."

"You don't know that." Esme argued.

"He hasn't harmed the children." Carlisle countered, even though images of black cloaks and fire filled his head.

"Not yet, but if he's as...scarred as the children say he is then the only logical explanation would be abuse. And well," Carlisle thought it was funny that Esme could be scared for and of this child at the same time.

"You're worried he's unstable because of the abuse. That he'll take out his anger on the children since they're different; the only thing in this town that could be seen as a threat."

They sat in silence once again as they pondered the Hadrian problem.

Harry awoke with a start, breathing heavy and looking around his room frantically for an escape. His breathing increased when he caught sight of something by his door, but as he focused on that figure, the images of war and death began to fade.

Charlie. Charlie was standing at his door telling him to get up.

He calmed slightly and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"You okay, kid?" The man asked. Harry didn't trust himself to speak just yet so he shrugged his shoulders in response. "You don't look okay. Bad dream?"

Harry nodded his head, "Yeah." He watched as the older man moved from the door to sit next to him on the bed.

"Bella used to get those all the time as a little girl," He said. He made no move to touch Harry, and Harry was beyond glad for that.

The part of him that was a little kid craved for touch, but the larger part of him, the part that lived through war, wanted nothing to do with physical contact.

Charlie sat there with him for a few moments, and it wasn't until after Charlie had left that Harry realized the man was waiting for his breathing to slow down again.

He shook his head as a warm feeling built in his chest. It reminded him of when he'd stay at the Weasleys and Molly would fawn over him or Arthur would congratulate him on something or another. He moved to the closet and threw off his clothes. He pointedly ignored his reflection in the mirror on the inside of the door; he didn't need to see his scarred flesh.

He let a bitter laugh flow through his lips. He couldn't even look at himself without being reminded of the war.

He quickly threw on a pair of black jeans and a green sweater that was a little bit too large on him before heading downstairs to finish up his morning routine.

Once he moved into the kitchen he slipped on his shoes and sat down at the table. He was glad that no one else was in there at the moment because he didn't feel like eating and now he could just lie and say he already had.

He stared out of the window for a little bit, before turning to look at the clock that hung on the wall. He had twenty minutes before they would have to be at school, but given that school was only a few minutes away he still had to stay at the house for a good ten more minutes.

He sighed and rested his head against his palm as he continued to look out the window at the pouring rain.

He thought that maybe after school, or at night he would go out to the woods behind the Swan's house and practice his magic.

Maybe he wouldn't even use his wand. He still needed to improve his wandless magic, even though he was exceptionally good for a sixteen year old. He could still only do minor things like alohomora or accio. He could almost do a minor cutting curse, but he couldn't cut anything thicker than an apple in half.

"Hadrian, are you ready to go?" Bella asked, breaking him from his thoughts.

"Hm?" He stared at her for a minute, before his brain actually computed what she had asked him. "Yeah. Yes, I am."

She nodded her head and Harry pretended not to see the concern in her eyes as he followed her out to the car.

Harry and Bella drove to the school in silence, but unlike many silences shared between the two in the past, this was a comfortable silence.

Once they pulled into the school's parking lot, however, that comfortable silence turned into loud shouts and beckoning hands. Harry watched Bella let out a groan and realized that the kids running towards the truck were her friends. Or they thought they were, at least.

She must have caught him staring at her, because Bella turned briefly to give him a half-hearted smile before she hopped out of the truck. Harry followed suit and was immediately grabbed and manhandled to the other side of the car by a tallish boy with spiky light brown hair who he recognized as Mike from his first day.

"Good to see you again, buddy!" Mike grinned as he stepped away from Harry. The boy had guided him to the other side of the car where a lopsided circle had formed between Bella and two other girls as well as two other boys. Harry had to hold back a sigh when he realized that introductions were in place.

"Who's he Bella?" Jessica asked, glancing at Harry and speaking as if he wasn't there.

"He's my...cousin." Bella shrugged, stepping away from the other girl who seemed to have a personal space issue. Jessica didn't seem to care as she turned her attention on Harry.

"Well, I'm Jessica. And you are?" Something about her irritated Harry a bit, but he couldn't quite place what it was.

"Hadrian Potter." He said flatly.

"Oh my God, he's British!" She squealed, turning to the other girl who seemed intrigued, but thankfully, was only a reasonable level of excited.

"Hadrian, then?" An Asian boy asked. He was taller than Harry by more than a few inches and had shaggy black hair. He seemed friendly enough, but Harry was reminded of Colin Creevey when he noticed the camera around said boy's neck.

"Obviously." Harry retorted, throwing a grin when he realized that his tone of voice may have sounded a bit rude.

"I'm Eric, and this is Tyler," The boy said, pointing to himself and the African American boy standing next to him. Harry nodded his head in greeting, before Mike grabbed his arm again and turned him to Jessica who had apparently been trying to get his attention.

"What?" He asked, the word coming out harsher than he meant it to. Not that she really noticed.

"You haven't met Angela yet." She grinned, pushing another girl out in front of Harry.

"I can introduce myself, you know," The girl griped, yanking herself away from the excited blonde. "I'm Angela Weber."

"Hadrian Potter." He said shortly, eyeing the girl. She was tall, way taller than he was, but she had soft features. Her skin was tan, but it was probably a natural tan given the state of the weather in Forks. She had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes that were obscured by glasses.

He thought of where his glasses were, sitting on his desk back in his room at the Swan's house.

"So, like, what's your situation? Why are you here?" Jessica prodded.

"Family issues." Harry said, brushing around the subject. It felt weird doing so considering that the subject he was avoiding talking about was made up.

"Oh. So how long are you here for?" The blonde interrogated.

"At least until I turn 17." He murmured getting uncomfortable and feeling the oncoming of an anxiety attack. "Look, I should head to class." He turned and left before anyone could stop him.

Edward could tell as soon as the wizard walked into the classroom that he was upset at the boy turned around to start walking towards his seat Edward caught a glance of wide, troubled emerald eyes. He didn't get long to look at them though, because not a second later Hadrian had adjusted his head so that his unruly bangs shielded his eyes from view.

He plopped down at his desk with an unceremonious thud and immediately pulled his bag to his chest and held it there like some sort of shield.

Edward wasn't like Jasper; he couldn't feel or influence other people's emotions, but he could definetly feel the anxiety rolling off of Hadrian.

For a race that was supposed to be so dangerous, the younger boy certainly didn't seem so now. Edward saw his back shuddering every few seconds accompanied by a labored breath. Despite this, the wizard's muscles were tense and looked ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.

"Today we will be working on Analytic Trigonometry." The teacher announced, causing a groan to erupt from multiple students.

Edward didn't care; he'd had this lesson hundreds of times before. Instead, against his better judgment, he tried to push himself into the anxious boy's mind.

He knew it was a dirty trick; getting into someone's mind while they were too distracted by themselves to defend it, but he couldn't help himself. He had a lot of questions and no one was answering them. His parent's wouldn't tell them why wizards were dangerous or what had happened to them when they had obviously encountered one and Hadrian...well the wizard brought a whole other slew of questions: Why was he here? Why now? Is he a threat? How does he block his mind?

Edward pushed himself forward and immediately found himself inside Hadrian's head, but it wasn't like he imagined. Instead of the usual flashes of memory or fantasy he would usually see in someone's mind he saw a door and black.

Everything was so black that you couldn't tell where the floor met the walls and where the walls met the ceiling. It was disorienting to say the least, but Edward stepped forward to look at the door. It was tall, so tall in fact, that he couldn't see the top of it. It had black and gold symbols and runes carved into the platinum surface.

He was so distracted by the design, that he almost didn't hear the thump from the other side. He waited to see if it happened again and it did, except this time it was a frantic knocking. A muffled scream escaped from the other side and Edward was caught between wanting to rip the door open or leave.

The screaming silenced for a moment and in that moment of hesitation he knew he needed to leave. He said it was because the screaming stopped, but in reality it was more that he didn't want to be there when it started again.

As it turned out, he didn't exit the wizard's mind quick enough and an agonizing scream on the other side of the door echoed through the doors and reverberated in the darkness surrounding him.

Edward paused before realization dawned on him. That was Hadrian screaming on the other side of that door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N" The vampires are hard to write. I'm less familiar with Twilight, so tell me if you have any suggestions for how I could write their personalities. As always, please tell me about and mistakes. I hope you liked it.


	7. Q & Not Quite A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys, I'm back again. Anyways, here is the next chapter.
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of child abuse and torture, slash
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or Harry Potter.

"-otter! Potter!"

Edward heard the teacher calling and knew it was time to leave, but just as he was about to exit Hadrian's mind a door slammed.

He turned around and saw a figure, obviously Hadrian, pushing back against the ornate doors with what looked like more strength than he actually possessed.

He watched as the black haired boy heaved against the doors one more time and got them closed long enough to lock them. Edward heard thumping and screaming on the other side, but didn't have time to contemplate before vivid green eyes turned a harsh glare on to him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" The boy asked, barely constrained rage pushing at the tone of his voice. Edward didn't respond. He wasn't sure what he would say, and he definitely didn't want to put his family in danger by revealing that they were all supposed to be keeping an eye on him.

"What are those doors?" He asked instead.

Hadrian shook his head, and leveled him with a glare once again. Edward watched as the black haired boy slipped into a calm facade. A mask he hadn't seen on the boy before. The first few times he had met the boy he had noticed that he was quiet, if a little sarcastic, but he seemed calm and caring. This new version of the same boy seemed unstable and definitely more jaded.

"I already know why you're here. What I want to know is why you didn't leave." It wasn't phrased as a question, but Edward knew that it was.

"How do you know why I'm here?" Edward asked, avoiding the question. He watched as the newer version of Hadrian

"You vampires are transparent." The boy said. Edward's eyes narrowed at the implication that they'd been easily figured out. "Topaz eyes, missing school? It was laughably easy."

"How did you know we're vampires?" Edward asked. He didn't like this at all; he had come into Hadrian's mind to get answers and instead he ended up with questions. Lots of questions.

"Potter!"

"Bye." Hadrian said as he forcefully pushed the taller male out of his mind.

Edward landed back in his own head with the mental equivalent of a thump.

"Sorry. I was just...thinking." Edward heard Hadrian say from next to him. The playfulness in his tone only irritated Edward further. The human knew exactly what he did to the vampire and how much it would irritate him.

It looked like he would actually have to figure out how to befriend the human in order to get answers. And probably more questions.

Harry shook his head to clear himself of the defensive mindset he'd just been in. It wasn't him. He wasn't that person.

But sometimes he needed to be. Moody knew that when he'd taught Harry how to detach himself from the dirtier parts of war.

He turned to glare at the vampire, a burning heat in his head that needed to be released. He was happy to note that the vampire was returning the glare and seemed suitably flustered. He wasn't necessarily glad that he was causing the vampire irritation, but it did satisfy the vindictive part of him that had manifested sometime during the war.

He was beyond furious that the vampire had entered his mind while he was at his weakest. During anxiety attacks he had no control over himself and he usually pushed himself into his own mind to escape outside stresses. The only problem was that his inside stresses were worse and would literally drag him through the doors-his shields-and lock him inside.

He couldn't escape himself.

Hermione had warned him that the more powerful version of Occlumency was temperamental and more sentient, for lack of a better word. It was less of a tool and more of a servant; it did what it's job was, but unlike a tool, it could betray you in a way.

He knew that he had to have the shields though and the higher form of Occlumency was the only one that would work for him. His magic was too strong and too much for the other type to handle, which is why he could never quite manage it.

He glanced at the vampire again and saw that the topaz eyes were still staring at him.

He held back a sardonic sort of snort and went back to copying down his notes, but his grip was so strong that his pencil snapped. The vampire was the only one to notice.

He heaved a sigh and got a pen out of his backpack and continued to copy down notes, though this time he was more on autopilot than anything else. His mind was still thinking at how irrationally violated he felt when the vampire had invaded his mind.

He knew the bugger hadn't actually seen anything but his shields, but that didn't ease his anger.

He felt the eyes on the side of his head and studiously ignored them. Instead he thought back on why it bothered him so much because it wasn't like Voldemort hadn't been in his head a hundred fucking times...but maybe it was because he thought he had managed to escape his old life. The one where he had to be on guard all the time and worry about people invading his head.

Maybe it was his own fault for thinking he could get away from it so easily.

Alice watched the wizard walk into their history class and immediately knew that something was different about him. His walk seemed stiffer, his shoulders tenser and his eyes more guarded.

He looked as if he was ready to fight or flee at a moments notice.

"Hello Hadrian!" She tried calling. He turned his head to her and gave a stiff nod before sitting down.

Yes, he was very different. The last time they had had class together he had been friendly enough if not a bit jumpy. But now he was just seemed weary and tired.

She looked next to her and saw that his cousin seemed to have noticed the difference as well. His cousin didn't make a move to act on it though, and Alice figured it was because she didn't think her relationship with Hadrian was anything beyond 'dad's cousins son' yet.

She looked beyond the human to Rosalie and saw her sister staring at the wizard with and expression akin intrigue. Alice wondered what it was about the human boy that seemed to bring out something different in her usually less than pleasant sister.

Class started and she saw the wizard pull out his notebook and a pen as if he was actually paying attention to the teacher. She watched as he copied down notes and briefly wondered how it was that he managed to write so neatly while his mind was clearly elsewhere.

Harry walked into the art classroom for the first time since he had started attending Forks high school. However, whatever his first impression of the room would have been was ruined when he realized that he had yet another class with the two male vampires that he hadn't actually met yet.

Jasper and Emil or Emmett or something like that. It started with an E and as far as he was concerned, he didn't need to know more than that.

He sat himself down at an empty table and was glad to see that it looked like no one would be joining him.

"Alright class, for out new student's sake, I am going to do introductions. My name is Mrs. Thyme. I will be your art teacher for the rest of the year, Hadrian." Harry rolled his eyes at being called out, but didn't comment. "The syllabus is nonexistent. This is an art class. You will talk to me about what you want to do and we will move from there. Got it?" She didn't wait for him to answer before she continued. "I want all of you to get out a piece of paper and start sketching...someone give me a topic? How about a dog? Yes, draw a dog!"

Harry groaned, immediately realizing that he had gotten stuck with a total lunatic for a teacher. Bloody hell, it was like Trelawney, but with art.

He got up and walked towards one of the shelves with flimsy, not very professional paper on it and moved back to his desk. He pulled out a 2B pencil and started drawing Fluffy.

He wasn't sure if it would be appreciated because as far as the muggles knew, a Cerberus was a completely mythical animal; however, the only other dogs he knew and cared about were Remus and Sirius and he couldn't bring himself to draw them. He also knew Ripper and Fang, but he wasn't fond of the former and the latter looked less like a dog and more like a shapely sack of furry potatoes.

He set to work by getting the basic shape and layout of the animal, before he went defining edges. He was just getting started on shading the nose on one of the heads when he was interrupted by someone sitting next to him.

He turned and saw that the largest of the vampire males was sitting next to him.

He ignored the larger male and went back to drawing only to be interrupted once again when he was poked in the side of the head with an eraser.

"What?" He snapped, glaring into the topaz eyes above him.

"Nothing." The vampire responded as he continued to watch the wizard.

"It's obviously something." Harry snorted. He hadn't met this vampire yet, and he was stating to regret that he had. Especially since this one didn't seem so couldn't become friends with them. Not if they all could hop into his mind whenever they wanted felt his stomach become tense with nerves, as he turned his eyes away from the boulder of a man.

"You're upset." A new voice said, and Harry looked up to see another vampire sitting across from him.

"Thank you for noticing." Harry muttered before turning his attention back to the sketch. He wasn't sure why he was treating them like he would Malfoy, but he was anxious and angry and he couldn't bring himself to care.

"You're welcome." The voice responded, and Harry almost looked up with a smile.

"He wasn't actually thanking you, Jasper. He was being sarcastic. Weren't ya, kiddo?" Harry fell forward when a larger hand patted him on the back.

Harry made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl as he pushing himself back onto his stool again. The vampire rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry about that. My name's Emmett. And this is Jasper." The tallest vampire said, gesturing toward the blonde one.

"Hadrian. But you already knew that." He knew he was getting snarky. He knew he wasn't acting like himself...he was acting like his mask. During the war it'd been easy to distinguish between himself and the person he needed to be to win, but more and more it seemed he was starting to become a fusion of both. And he didn't want that. The mask he wore was insensitive, cruel, cynical, but he barely noticed when he slipped into that mindset anymore.

He used to have Ron and Hermione to tell him when he was being tactless or callous and he'd be able to snap out of it. Now everything was just blurring together.

"Cocky, huh?" The bigger vampire grinned, leaning down so he was eye to side of the head with Harry.

"No. But you two are as bad as your brother and sisters in terms of subtlety." Harry muttered. When he saw the expectant looks of the two creatures he elaborated. "If you want to try and spy on a person, you shouldn't all stare at him every second of every class. Besides, I'm a wizard and I don't know how you know that, but it's the only possible explanation as to why you're paying so much attention to me." Harry breathed out. He hadn't actually meant to say that much, but he figured it didn't really matter. He wasn't telling them anything they didn't already know.

"You're smart then, huh?" Emmett asked. He already figured the kid would be on to them. He wasn't as ignorant as everyone seemed to think, and aside from Jasper, he could get a read on people better than anyone in their family. Including Edward, even though the younger vampire could read minds.

Edward could read minds, but that didn't mean he understood them.

"Not really." Harry responded, moving on to shading the last of the dog's noses.

"Well, it was nice talking to you Hadrian." The larger vampire smiled as he stood up and moved back to his original table. The blond vampire moved after him a few seconds later, leaving Harry alone once again.

He felt his shoulders relax some as he settled back into his work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know it is short, but I'm hoping that I can get another chapter up this week because I'll be without internet from this coming up Friday, to the Friday after that. Constructive criticism is welcome. And if you could point out any grammatical or spelling flaws it would be great.
> 
> SPOILERS: (Explains Harry's 'mindset' shift. I don't know when I'll fit it into the story so I'll explain it to you now)
> 
> Also, Harry doesn't have MPD or DID. I think of it as more of a mindset that he has. When he's at ease or with friends he's your normal Harry; he's sarcastic, awkward, somewhat quiet. But when he gets into the mindset of the person he had to be during the war he becomes more aggressive in the way he speaks (hence how he treated Jasper and Emmett), and he becomes more cynical and talkative. When he forged the mask it was a way to shield himself from the acts he would have to commit during the war, but he wore the mask almost constantly during that period so he could more easily deal with the people and things he needed to do. Because he wore it so much, after the war he couldn't really differentiate between his real self and the war mindset. He forgot how to take the mask off, sort of. Ron and Hermione would tell him when they noticed that he was in that mindset, but when he was on his own he'd slip into the same mindset he was in while the war was going on.
> 
> Thank you!


	8. Avoidance and XJ

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Mentions of child abuse, torture. Slash
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight or Harry Potter
> 
> CHAPTER 8

When the bell rang, Harry was the first to stand up and exit the class room and head off to his next class. He wasn't particularly excited for Latin, but it was certainly more appealing than having two vampires stare at the back of his head throughout the entirety of class.

As he walked down the hallway he did his best to do so inconspicuously. He made sure to walk fast but not too fast, walk not to close to the center of the hall, but not to close to the edge.

He was nearly at the Latin classroom by the time he noticed the pair of eyes on the back of his neck. He felt his lip twitch a little as he restrained the urge to glare at whichever vampire it was. And he knew it'd be a vampire, because he was used to human's staring at him. It hardly bothered him anymore.

He started walking again and was chagrined to hear footsteps following after his own.

"Hadrian," The vampire called out. Harry ignored him and continued his brisk pace towards the Latin classroom."Hadrian."

Harry had to restrain the urge to roll his eyes. All he wanted was to be left alone. He could tell the vampire wanted to apologize by the soft pleading in its voice, but he wasn't in a very forgiving mood. He continued to ignore the vampire as he turned into the Latin classroom, and couldn't bring himself to be surprised when Edward followed him inside.

He gave a respectful nod to the teacher who told him he could sit anywhere he wanted to since the class only had seven students enrolled in it. "Thanks," he muttered, but he continued to wander around the room until he heard Edward sit down. Once he was sure the vampire would not move to get up he sat himself down on the other side of the room.

He knew it was petty, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He was angry and he wanted the vampire to know it.

After the rest of the students had arrived and taken their seats the teacher promptly stood up and started the lesson. Harry was glad that, unlike most of his teachers that day, the man didn't make him introduce himself.

"Alright, today we're going to be going over some more common nouns." The teacher turned and started writing the words and their English translations on the board. "Take notes on this guys. It will be on the test."

Harry had to hold back a groan. He hadn't expected the muggles to be at such a low level of the language. He wasn't fluent in the language, but he knew plenty of nouns and phrases from the spells he'd learned throughout his years at Hogwarts.

He wasn't sure about the vampire because, for all he knew, the vampire was around when Latin was still a living language.

Harry took one last look at the board before deciding that notes would just be a waste of paper. He tucked his notebook in his bag and turned to look out of the window, ignoring everyone around him as he watched the rain fall in a steady stream to the ground. He let his eye scan the trees and was almost relaxed when the sight of an owl caused his stomach to jolt. He held in a gasp as he tried to make out the familiar shape of a barn owl through the haze of rain.

A barn owl with a letter attached to it's legs. His first thought was that the ministry was owling him to tell him he could go home, but he pushed that idea from his mind. They wouldn't owl him if they thought the chances of him being attacked were so high he had to move out of the country. And he also pushed aside the possibility that it could be from Ron or Hermione, since he knew the Ministry had prohibited them from sending him letters as well.

Harry's stomach got tight with nerves when he realized that whoever sent that owl was not someone he knew. What made him even more uneasy was the fact that whoever had sent the letter could have easily put a tracking charm on either the bird or the letter, which meant that they knew where he was.

"I need to use the toilet," He blurted, not really thinking and going with his gut. The teacher spared him an irritated glance, but waved him away and told him he could just leave in the future.

As he exited the classroom he quickly scanned the halls for anyone who might see him leaving the building, before he set off towards the exit. He stepped outside and looked again for people who might see him leaving, before quickly making his way into the forest. He knew the owl would follow, but he couldn't go under the overhang because he'd be spotted.

As soon as he was sure he was deep enough in the woods he attempted a wandless shield spell to protect him from the rain, but wasn't overly surprised when it didn't work. He still needed a lot of practice.

He made his way under a large tree that provided a small amount of protection from the rain. He waited for the owl to reach him, before extending his arm as a make shift perch and taking the letter. The owl seemed to get that he didn't have any treats for it and quickly flew away.

Either the person who sent him the letter didn't know he didn't have an owl at the moment, or didn't want a response.

He ran a hand across his face in a hopeless effort to rid it of some rain water before heading back to the school building with the letter tucked into his pocket. The desire to read it was itching at him, but he wasn't curious enough to open it in the rain and risk getting the ink smudged before he had the chance.

He quickly slipped inside the building, taking a moment to stomp the wetness off his shoes, before trudging back to class.

"You get lost?" The teacher asked, and accusatory look in his eyes as he looked at Harry's sopping form.

"Sorry, sir." Harry said, milking his excuse as the new student for all it was worth. The teacher just nodded at him, and a few of the students snickered. Edward was the only one who didn't seem to believe it.

Harry told himself not to care, as he sat himself back in his seat and discreetly pulled out the letter. He knew he should probably have waited until he got out of school, but the anxiety of what could happen if he didn't take care of this problem immediately wasn't letting up.

He saw Edward glancing at him out of the corner of his eye, but ignored it in favor of trying to quietly open the letter. The teacher either didn't care about the rumpling noises or didn't hear them, but eventually Harry had the parchment out of the envelope. The letter was damp, but the angular writing was still intact, and only smeared in some places.

His eyes however, quickly refocused on the contents of the letter, instead of the state of it.

Hello Hadrian,

You don't know me yet, but I think that if you give it a chance you'll find that we could be good friends. You see, I'm aware of the vampire problem here in Forks, and given that you're a Wizard, I figure it will be easier for us to take care of them together.

I could do it by myself, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to work with the famous Harry Potter. I'll be seeing you soon.

Cheers,

XJ

Harry's eyes widened as he tried to comprehend what he was being told.

XJ.

XJ knew who he was. He knew the Cullens were vampires. And he was just another person who wanted to meet the Harry Potter.

Harry felt frustration build in his chest at the thought of yet another person only talking to him because he was famous. Another person assuming he'd help them because, 'that's what Harry does."

He shook his head, but it didn't do much to rid him of anger. He'd outgrown his hero complex during the war when he was forced to detach himself from the people around him. He'd had to learn that he'd never be able to save everyone because he simply would never be powerful enough.

Taking a deep breath he tried to focus on what his next move would be. XJ had to be real. No one who was simply joking with him would go through the trouble of finding him and sending him an owl if they weren't serious.

But if XJ was real and he was serious, then that meant he'd have to warn the vampires. Despite his dislike for them, they hadn't done anything wrong as far as he could tell. And if he didn't tell them, the blood would still be on his hands since XJ had implied that he'd kill them whether he helped or not.

The only major problem was he was being forced to take a side. If he helped the Cullens he had no doubt XJ would try to kill him too, and if he helped XJ he'd be killing relatively innocent creatures.

He sighed and slumped down into his seat.

When the bell rang ten minutes later, Harry was the first one out of his classroom and down the hall. In fact, he was in such a hurry that he failed to notice the shortest vampire until he had bowled her over.

He wasn't overly surprised to see that she didn't look angry in the slightest, though judging from the looks of passerby's they were certainly expecting someone to get maimed.

"Sorry," He murmured.

"It's no problem. You don't weigh enough for it to hurt." The girl said lightly. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Does anyone?" He snorted, picking himself up from the floor and offering a hand. He may not like Alice Cullen, but so far she was the most 'human' of the vampires.

"That's a good point." She said, taking his hand. She through a quick glance over her shoulder and that's when Harry noticed that Jasper was standing rather awkwardly by the door to the men's room. "Would you like to have lunch with us, Hadrian?" She asked.

Harry felt his eyes go wide. It would be a good opportunity to inform them of what was going on, and it was in a crowded area so they couldn't kill him. But he also was not in the mood to deal with this right now. In fact, all he really wanted to do was fall asleep and avoid his problems for once.

"Sorry. I already have something I was going to do during lunch." He lied. "But I do need to talk to your family later." He added before he could stop himself. He knew if he didn't, he would avoid telling them until it was too late.

"Oh, okay," Alice chirped. "Well, would you like to come to out house after school?"

"I can't. I've got plans with Bella." He lied again, but this time he made sure to walk away before she could respond. He was sure they would find him later, but for right now he didn't want to deal with setting up secret meetings. He'd had enough of that during his Hogwarts days.

He was happy she didn't seem inclined to catch up to him as he exited the building, foregoing lunch in favor of wandering the woods. The rain had stopped for the moment, though drops still fell from trees on to his head as he made his way into the woods.

He wasn't sure why he was so drawn to the woods in Forks, though he supposed it may have something to do with the fact that, aside from himself, no one else ever seemed to walk the trails there.

And it gave him time to think, which it sounded like he was going to be needing to do a lot of.

He was alone with the XJ situation; he wasn't allowed to contact the wizarding world. They had said that they would be monitoring him and that if something was wrong they would fix it. Not that he really believed them, but whenever he asked the Ministry for anything, it always seemed to backfire on him.

And the XJ situation also meant that he had to know more about vampires and krusnik, and their history. And that meant he would have to talk to the Cullens. He withheld a groan as he slumped against a giant oak, not caring if his back got drenched with the left over rain water.

Another thing he now had to do was analyze which of the Cullens he could trust and which ones he should steer clear of.

He knew the Cullens were a clan of seven, but he'd only met the five that could pass for teenagers. Esme and Carlisle Cullen were still a mystery, aside from what he'd learned from Bella, which basically consisted of the knowledge that Carlisle was a doctor and he and Esme took in all of the other vampires.

The 'younger' vampires weren't exactly easy to figure out either, especially since he'd been purposefully avoiding them. However, he knew that Edward had some kind of mind ability that allowed him access to people's thoughts, which meant that Edward was definitely not getting on Harry's list of vampires he could actually work with.

Alice and Jasper were a pair, it seemed, though it struck him as odd. They were both likable enough in different ways, but something about Jasper made Harry uncomfortable. And to be honest, he wasn't sure he could trust Alice either because she seemed like the type to spill secrets without even knowing what she was doing.

Emmett and Rosalie were also a pair, but Rosalie seemed very calculating and intelligent while Emmett was almost definitely more brawn than brains. And there was something about Rosalie that made hi want to like her, though he couldn't place what it was.

He grumbled, shaking his head to clear away the annoying thoughts, before straightening and walking away from the tree and back towards the school.

He studiously ignored the thought that bothered him most, which was how XJ knew his name. Because if XJ knew his name, then they could easily find death eaters and alert them of his current location.

He felt his shoulders tense as his gut filled with nerves.


	9. Chapter 9

Creative writing, Harry decided, was a useless class. He knew he might be a bit biased due to the three vampires in the room, but he thought he was being fairly objective in his criticisms. He'd gotten lost trying to find the class, only to arrive late and get yelled at by the teacher. The teacher had then excused herself and had yet to show back up twenty minutes later.

The other students didn't seem overly surprised by her absence and were talking amongst themselves, but Harry was still seething over the hypocrisy of the situation.

"She did that to me too." Bella murmured quietly. He turned to look at her and smiled a little, just a small quirking of the lip. She was sitting at the desk next to him, though there actually wasn't that much space between them. The classroom was small, so the desks were close together. Harry had made sure to get one on the edge, so that he could leave as soon as the bell rang and not worry about climbing over other people.

As the silence dragged on Harry started to feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise, and he knew someone was staring at him. Abruptly, he turned to look behind him and caught the eyes of Jasper and Alice Cullen. He felt himself beginning to get angry, but restrained himself by pointedly turning his attention away from them and back to the doorway.

However, as the teacher didn't seem to be coming back anytime soon, he let his attention wander to Bella. She was doodling now, an arm guarding the drawing she seemed so focused on. Her long, dark hair hiding most of her face, though the tip of her pale nose was still visible. Harry felt his lips quirk; he really did like her, though he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because she never pushed him for details and seemed completely content to just sit there with him in silence.

"Sorry for the delay. I needed to speak with someone." The teacher said as she entered the room, not stopping even to close the door behind her. She immediately moved to put her things on her desk before turning back to the class. Harry examined her for more detail than what he had gathered during their first encounter. He noticed that she was a lot frailer than he had originally thought, with boney shoulders sticking out of a gaudy yellow dress. She seemed almost skeletal, really, with her stringy blonde hair and murky brown eyes that seemed to sink into her skull. The image was helped by the pale skin that seemed stretched over the bones and musculature of her narrow face. "We have a new student, I see. Would you care to introduce yourself?"

"Do I have a choice?" He muttered louder than he meant to, earning a few laughs from people around the room.

"You always have a choice, Mr. Potter." The teacher said, squishing her thin lips together. Harry very nearly rolled his eyes, but knew the consequences if he did so would not be worth it.

"Hadrian Potter." He said flatly, tapping the fingers of his left hand on the desk as he fiddled with a pen in his right.

"Right then. Today class, you will be picking a quote and for homework you are to write about how it is structured. Is it a statement? Is symbolism involved?"

Harry sighed and wrote the assignment down in his planner. The teacher rattled on about possible sources for their quotes, but he figured he just look something up on the internet and wing it.

Harry had waited for Bella outside of Creative Writing, but as soon as the bell rang he had been out of the door. In the last few minutes of class the teacher had lectured him on all that the class had covered that year, and while he appreciated the sentiment, her breath smelled like smoke and rancid meat.

"So, Biology is this way," Bella said, grabbing Harry's attention. He nodded, and followed Bella to the classroom where they slipped inside without so much as a glance towards the teacher.

Bella had immediately taken her seat next to Mike, and he was chagrinned to see that the only available seat was next to Edward Cullen.

He scowled, but walked over to the desk and took a seat anyway, studiously ignoring the vampire while he was at it.

"All right! Pay attention, class. Today we are going to be going over the instructions for the dissection lab you will be completing next class." Harry blanched when he realized that he would have to dissect a cat or a frog or some other creature. 

He heard a snort from beside him and turned to glare at the smug looking vampire. He almost lashed out, but quickly restrained himself and turned his attention back to the teacher who started droning on about the dissection process and requirements.

He already knew most of this from his tutoring, but he took notes on it anyway. However, his mind was elsewhere, thinking about more pressing issues. Like how he was going to have to talk to the Cullen's about what he'd learned, or about how he needed to figure out who XJ was, or even how he was going to have to lie to Bella when she asked why he was talking to the Cullens.

He groaned, and didn't even bother glaring when a few people turned to stare.

Class let out, and for the first time that day Hadrian didn't bolt from the room. Instead, with no small amount of hesitation, he tapped Edward on the shoulder and calmly walked out of the building, knowing the vampire would follow.

He exited the building through the side-door closest to the classroom and continued on to one of the pavilion's lining the school grounds. Once there, he sat himself down on a picnic table and waited for the vampire to catch up.

"Hadrian, about earlier, I-"

"I really don't care," Harry snapped, not ready to listen to the creatures apologies, especially when there was something much more important going on. "I got a letter today and I need you to tell your family what is says."

He was happy to see that those words seemed to grab the vampires attention.

"Whoever wrote it is named XJ, and because the name doesn't mean anything to me, I assume it doesn't mean anything to you?" It wasn't really a question, but he got an affirmative nod from the vampire anyway. "Right, so all you really need to know is that he wants me to help kill your family." He knew that was a shortened version of it, but he couldn't reveal much else without giving away hints as to who he actually was. He watched as the vampire seemed to come to terms with the information, and wasn't overly surprised to see the blatantly confused expression on the vampire's face.

"Why are you telling me this?" Edward asked.

"Well, I didn't think you'd fancy being slaughtered, but I could be wrong." He retorted dryly, slipping into sarcasm to hide his anxiety.

"But you hate us."

"No, I don't," Harry said in a decidedly condescending voice. "In fact, I didn't have a real problem with you until you invited yourself into my head." His voice remained steady, but he could tell the anger in his words was noticed from the slight widening of the vampire's eyes.

"I was just doing what I th-" Edward started, but cut himself off when he saw that the shorter male was hardly listening. "I just wanted to make sure my family was safe."

Harry snorted, but didn't move to object to the vampire's claims. Instead, he turned on his heel and walked towards the parking lot on their left.

Edward made the decision not to tell his family what Hadrian had revealed to him until after they returned to their home. He figured it was the least he could do for the human because he was sure, if he had told his siblings at school, they would have had Hadrian cornered and spitting up every detail before the human could leave the grounds.

His siblings questioned where he'd been, but he brushed them off. They knew enough about him to not bother pestering him for answers, and instead turned their attention to getting in their respective cars. He rode with Jasper and Alice, deciding he wasn't really in the mood to deal with Rosalie's temper.

The only down side to this, was that Jasper could feel he was distracted, nervous. He sent a quick half-smile to his brother, but didn't offer up any more information. Alice, luckily, didn't seem to notice and continue to talk about something he didn't even bother trying to understand.

He was glad when they got back to the house, and wasted little time in getting out of the car and entering the house. He immediately headed for the kitchen where he heard Esme listening to one of those human cooking shows.

He nodded at her as he entered the room, and quietly sat himself down in one of the chairs as he waited for his siblings to arrive. There was no use waiting on Carlisle, since he wouldn't be home until much later.

"I talked to Hadrian today," He announced as soon as he was sure his siblings were close enough to hear.

"And?" Esme asked, curiosity burning in her eyes as she turned her attention from the television and towards the bronze haired vampire. He barely paid attention to the rest of his siblings as they filed into the room.

"He got a letter sometime today from a person called XJ." He paused to see if any of his siblings or Esme knew of him, but receiving blank stares he continued. "He said XJ wanted to recruit him so they could hunt us down together."

The room was completely silent for a long time until Emmett spoke. "Will he do it?"

"I don't think so." Alice said. "It wouldn't make sense to tell Edward if he was"

"Unless he wanted to create a challenge." Rosalie retorted. Her words almost echoed in the silence of the room.

"We need to find out more about him and where he stands with us." Esme said, trying to not only shake Rosalie's words away, but the bad memories they triggered.

"We need to talk to him about this. He put himself in danger to help us. I don't think he's a threat." Edward said, uncomfortable with how easily his family was turning the human into something that couldn't be trusted. He wasn't sure why the thought upset him, but it left a sick feeling in his gut.

"Tomorrow at school then; we'll invite him over," Alice said.


	10. A Walk in the Woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOT! I'm back. I'm going to be a second semester senior in a few days, so hopefully I can stop being so anal retentive about my school work. I really hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Harry walked up to the large reddish truck and forced an awkward smile at Bella through the glass, before clambering inside.

"Hi." He murmured, discomfort showing clearly on his face.

"Hi." Bella responded, looking just as uncomfortable as he did. She started the engine, waiting for the deafening roar to subside, before making her way out of the parking lot. "Is...um, is there something wrong?" She asked.

Harry turned to look at her, surprised at her perceptiveness. "No. It's just...no. It's nothing."

A dubious look from Bella left him wanting to smack himself, but before he could do so Bella brought an end to the discussion with an agreeable; "okay."

The word was pumped full of curiosity, the desire for answers, and Harry appreciated the fact that she wasn't going to badger him about receiving them. And, he thought morbidly, he couldn't risk getting her involved in...whatever this situation was.

The car settled back into a silence. Harry was tempted to leave it as such, but soon the silence became too much to bear.

"You, um..." Harry hesitated, "You wouldn't happen to know of any paths, would you?"

Bella looked a little put off by the question; "Like, for walking?"

Harry nodded, feeling a blush creep to his cheeks as he effectively made a fool of himself.

"I think there are a few just behind the house."

"Right," Harry murmured, nodding to himself. A plan was already formulating in his head. "Thank you."

"Yeah."

The truck was once again filled with thick silence, that only lessened in awkwardness when Bella's home came into view.

The car stopped in the driveway with a pathetic groan, and Harry, tense with nerves, jumped out almost before Bella took her hands of the wheel. He flushed when he caught her incredulous look. "S-sorry," he murmured, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "I'm going to go for a walk, okay?"

She shrugged in response, and pulled her backpack out of the car. "You should probably put your bag inside first." She said, a hint of a smirk playing at the edges of her lips. 

"Right, yeah..."Harry trailed off awkwardly, cursing himself for making such a scene getting out of the car. He grabbed his backpack and carefully shut the card door before following Bella inside. Charlie wasn't home yet, and Bella had somehow managed to get far enough ahead of him to be out of his line of sight by the time he reached the kitchen. He glanced around, examining the kitchen as he had the first day he arrived, taking in details he had missed while setting his backpack on the table. 

He wondered, briefly, if he should inform Bella that he was going out now, before deciding against it. He thought, rather wryly, that he had made it abundantly clear that he planned on leaving when he'd exited the car. 

He patted his hip, making sure his wand was still firmly tucked into his pants, before exiting the Swan home and walking towards the woods with a leisurely, but purposeful pace. He didn't have to walk far before the hard concrete turned into soft dirt and wet leaves. The woods behind the house was littered with trails, whether they were man-made or the work of deer and other woodland creatures. Harry chose one of the more traveled paths, and let himself relax as the moist air and light wind cooled his face. The occasional chirp from an indignant bird tore him from his relatively tranquil state, but he didn't find it hard to fall back into it. Perhaps because allowing himself to be relaxed was so much easier than acknowledging that he needed a plan to deal with XJ, to deal with the Cullens, to deal with Edward. 

Harry estimated that he'd walked for about twenty minutes along the trail when he decided he was far enough away from well, anything, really, that he could practice his magic without risk of exposure. He took a quick detour through one of the side trails, sending weak cutting curses at the trees as he went so as to mark his path, before finding himself in a small clearing. 

He tucked his wand back into his pocket, deciding that a wandless cutting curse was just as good a place to start as any, and looked for a tree he could practice with. 

The thought of cutting into the tree brought back the image of Neville in the green house at Hogwarts. He though of how disgruntled Neville would be if he knew what Harry was doing. But Neville didn't know what he was doing. In fact, Neville didn't even know where Harry was. Nobody, aside from a few of the Weasley's and Hermione had any idea where he was. And even then, they weren't allowed to contact him. 

Harry could feel his temper starting to rise at the ridiculousness, the unfairness of the situation. He roughly ran a hand through his hair, and bit his bottom lip to calm down the bubbling anger in his stomach and the fluttering panic in his chest. 

He was alone. He had Bella and he had Charlie and he was completely alone. 

And all of a sudden a blur of images started overwhelming his mind, bringing with them a pounding headache. He saw himself, dying at the hands of Voldemort only to be brought back. He saw the soft silver strand of Mrs. Malfoy's hair as she bent down, lying "he's dead," to protect him. He saw red, pools of thick red liquid pooling around the corpses of a first year Slytherin and a fourth year Hufflepuff. He saw the place he first considered his home destroyed and tainted red and metallic with the legacy of war. He saw death. 

Harry shook his head, trying to dislodge the nightmarish images with limited success. He wheezed in a breath, and then a few more, before calming down. At some point he had fallen to his knees, and the wet earth had soaked the fabric of his jeans. 

A drying curse would have worked, but Harry didn't bother. Still feeling weak from what Hermione had told him was a panic attack, he raised himself to his feet and leaned back against the tree opposite of the one he was going to be aiming at. 

He gave himself a few more minutes to calm down before lifting his hand and raising it towards the tree. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine the magic were a tangible thing inside of him, lurking in his veins like blood, something he could locate. But finding and isolating the magic was difficult, even more so now that his mind was exhausted from his episode. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the slight thrumming that he felt in his chest cavity, tried to isolate that thrumming feeling and push it out towards the tips of his fingers. Nothing happened for a few moments, but eventually the gratifying, and slightly ticklish feeling of the magic moving from his core to his fingers alerted him to the fact that he could very well get it right this time. He kept his eyes closed as he visualized what he wanted to happen - he visualized the soft yellow of the spell penetrating the tree, splintering it from the inside out, and causing it to fall. 

When his mind released the image he had of the damage he wished to inflict, his core released its restraint on the magic bubbling at his finger tips magic. He heard the impact, a satisfying crunching sounds, but when he looked at what he had done he found that he had not done any more damage than one blow of an axe.

He groaned and tried to focus in on the feeling again. He caught it and followed the same process he had the previous time, but the result was the same.

He huffed in frustration, wanting to yell but having managed to acquire enough self control over his years training for war that he knew better. 

Irritated, he tried again. He tried to go slowly, to take his time and focus, but before he knew it he'd been out in the clearing for over an hour and had not achieved more than the equivalent of two blows from an axe. 

He was disappointed, but allowed himself to feel some pride at the improvement, before heading back to the trail. 

Except, somewhere along the way, he must have walked right threw the main trail because, as he glanced up at the trees, he saw no evidence of any cutting curses. He pushed down the creeping feeling of anxiety building up just below his throat, and allowed himself a few deep breaths. 

The sky was getting dark, and the clouds were even darker. The warmth of the sun was going away, leaving Harry with air cold enough to allow white puffs every time he exhaled. 

Deciding his best bet was to try and retrace his steps, he headed back the way he came. Unfortunately, the path he was currently on was much like the one that led him to the clearing - it was an animal path, and aside from the light matting of leaves where they had been stepped on, there was little to distinguish it from the forest floor. Especially in the quickly dimming light. 

Harry, in spite of his honest effort, found that back tracking wasn't doing nearly as much good as he had hoped, so, in a last ditch effort he pulled out his wand and cast as point-me spell. Nothing happened except for a sharp pain in his chest. He grumbled, knowing he'd pushed his magical core's limits with the wandless magic practice. 

He remembered when he had first started training in the Dumbledore's Army, Hermione had informed him that his core must be huge because "on average, a well-trained wizard can only perform wandless magic continuously for approximately 15 to 20 minutes due to the additional exertion the wizard must face should he or she wish to control where their spell goes." Ron had called her a know-it-all, and they had all laughed.

Harry wasn't surprised to find himself smiling, but he quickly wiped the look off his face, not wanting to make being away from them more painful than it had to be. Already was. 

He walked aimlessly for a few more minutes, before allowing the anxiety that had been threatening to consume him take over his body. He slouched against a giant tree, curling in on himself even as the water from the wet, fallen leaves soaked into his clothing. 

The sky was completely black now, and if not for the moon, Harry would be completely enveloped in darkness. He had never been particularly scared of the dark, but he took comfort in knowing that he could probably cast a weak lumos if he needed to. Unfortunately, he knew light would do little if he couldn't figure out where he was going. 

He cursed himself for not marking all the trees he passed, instead of just those on the the off-shoot trail he took to find a secluded place to practice. 

He groaned, and was about to let out a string of self-deprecating expletives when a sound made him stop. His blood ran cold as he listened to the faint rustling and felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He pulled out his wand and tried to remain as quiet as he could as he slowly lifted himself from the ground.

"Hello, Harry." A voice, as cold and sharp as steel, murmured, somehow loud and quiet at the same time. 

Harry whipped around, adrenaline pumping in his veins as he located the source of the voice and pointed his wand. He summoned a lumos charm, and took in the slim, masculine frame on the other side of the trail. 

"XJ." It was a guess, but only just. The thick British accent gave him away. 

"Indeed."

Harry stiffened as the man walked forward, and moved to step back but the tree behind him gave him little relief. The blood in his veins was burning with adrenaline and cold with nerves at the same time. 

By the time the man reached the lighted area surrounding the lumos charm, Harry could make out almost translucent red eyes, and skin paler than that of any of the Cullens. The man's hair was a dark silver color, cut to just below his jawline in neat layers. He was dressed in muggle clothing, but of the high end sort. He shoes were nice, shiny black ones, and though he was wearing only a t-shirt, it was made of what Harry could only assume was silk, or some other soft fabric. His slacks were also black, but were pressed and obviously made for him. 

"Although I hear you are going by Hadrian nowadays." It wasn't a question. 

"What..." Harry's heart was thumping wildly, as he bit out his question. "...Are you a wizard?"

"No. I'm not even human."

Harry waited for the man to elaborate, or say something, but when he didn't Harry, in spite of his nervousness, asked instead, "What are you?" 

"I'm a krusnik." The man said the word with pride, and almost looked to be preening. 

Harry vaguely remembered learning about them in Defense Against the Dark Arts in his third year, but Professor Lupin had all but guaranteed them that they would never run into one. In the feud between vampires and werewolves, the populations of both creatures had dwindled rapidly, and krusniks were finding it harder and harder to feed. 

"Is that why you want to kill the Cullens?" Harry asked, fear being replaced by a mix if incredulity, repulsion and confusion. "You want to eat them?" 

"It sounds so awful when you say it like that," the man said, tossing his silver hair out the way, before stalking closer to Harry. " So have you thought about my offer?" 

"Obviously." Harry snapped, before he realized what had come out of his mouth. Logically, he knew it was not wise to anger a potentially dangerous creature with snarky retorts, especially when his core was so weak, but he couldn't help himself. He'd spent hours and hours agonizing over what to do with the knowledge in the letter he had received. "It was very intriguing, really, and by that I mean ominous." 

He nearly slapped himself, when he saw XJ's face darken. 

"I did not mean for you to become distressed. I just wished for my offer to be known." 

Harry stayed silent, unsure of how to respond to the man, the murderer, in front of him. 

"Your decision?" XJ prodded, taking a step backward, as if giving Harry space might speed up the process. 

"That depends on what you'd do if I said no." Harry finally responded. He knew he'd never agree, and thought XJ probably did too, so finding out what to expect didn't seem like a horrible idea. 

"I'll give you a few more days to decide," The taller man said, ignoring Harry's question with a small, knowing smile.

"But what if I say no?" Harry pushed, feeling slightly more confident due to the fact that the man had yet to act violently.

"I guess you'll find out in a few days." The krusnik smirked. "Your house is that way, by the way."

Harry looked in the general direction of the creature's hand and was happy, but chagrined to see that he could just make out the roof of the house he had passed on his way in to the woods.

"Thanks," he grumbled, turning to look at the silver-haired man, only to see that XJ had disappeared. Not even footprints were left to evidence the fact that he had been there.

Harry heaved a sigh and once again questioned why it was that trouble always seemed to find him. With a final shove off of the tree, he made his way out of the woods. 

He was on the Swan property in under 15 minutes, and was just about to slink upstairs when he was stopped in his tracks by an upset Charlie Swan. 

"Where were you?" Charlie asked, walking towards the kitchen table, obviously expecting Harry to follow him. 

"Out." Harry paused, realizing that sounded rude, before stammering awkwardly, "I mean, I was in the woods. Outside."

"Bella told me you left just after you two got home from school. It's a quarter to eight." Charlie said. The man's voice betrayed nothing, but Harry knew he was going to have to explain. 

"In my old school, um," Harry stammered, suddenly having second thoughts on sharing something personal. He heaved a breath and decided to share anyway. "I used to get stressed and walk around campus. I thought maybe if I took a walk I would be able to relax. I'm sorry I got back so late, I got lost." 

When Harry was training privately he'd learned that the best way to lie was to tell the truth. Just not the truth they were looking for. 

"Right." Charlie said gruffly. "Well, be more careful next time. And get yourself something to eat. I've got work."

Harry didn't bother dragging on the conversation by assuring Charlie that he'd be more careful or by saying he wasn't hungry. Instead he waited for the man to leave before trudging upstairs to his room. 

"Hey Bella," He said as he walked passed her room. In return he got a muffled response that he couldn't quite make out. He smiled slightly, the unintelligible noise reminding him a lot of Ron in the mornings at Hogwarts. 

He opened the door to his bedroom, wincing slightly at the shrill squeak of rusty joints, and put his book bag on the desk. He contemplated taking a shower for a few minutes before deciding to deal with it in the morning. He was cold and really did not fancy going to bed wet. 

With a groan, Harry flopped himself into his desk and pulled open his book bag to get started on homework that, for once, he was grateful for. It meant he had to focus on things besides the Cullens, or Edward or XJ.


End file.
